Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii
Encyclopedia
Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii is the second novel based on the Monk
television series. It was written in 2006 by Lee Goldberg
.
, an island in the northwest part of Hawaii
. The venue is the fanciest hotel on the island, the Grand Kiahuna Poipu Hotel, in Poipu, Hawaii
. Candace invites her friend Natalie Teeger
to be her maid of honor at the wedding. The primary reason for Candace's decision is the fact that she was there for Natalie when Julie was born and when Mitch died. All Natalie is to do is give the ring to Candace at the wedding. However, it only so happens that Natalie is Adrian Monk
's assistant, and so she hires someone from a temporary staffing agency to look in on Monk.
Natalie continues looking for the right moment to tell Monk that she is going to Hawaii when Captain Stottlemeyer
summons Monk to the scene of a bizarre murder. The victim is Dr. Lyle Douglas, a renowned heart surgeon. He was poisoned in the middle of performing a quadruple bypass
operation on Stella Picaro, his 44 year old ex-nurse. In the middle of the operation, Douglas had a seizure and dropped dead. Another surgeon, Dr. Troy Clark, rushed in to revive Ms. Picaro. It wasn't until the autopsy
the next day that they realized he was poisoned. Monk immediately knows who did it, and how: Picaro herself, despite being operated on at the time.
to her skin before making the incision. The iodine was laced with poison. Picaro also applied pinpricks to the gloves Douglas used in the operation. She herself had taken the antidote to the poison, so she wasn't affected, nor were the other doctors, who wore a different brand of gloves that gave Douglas skin rashes.
Monk has singled out the doctors and medical students who were witnessing the operation, since they couldn't poison Douglas without being noticed.
Believing that her worries are over and that Dr. Kroger, Captain Stottlemeyer and the temp worker can take care of Monk, Natalie drives to San Francisco International Airport
for her flight. While on the tarmac
, she dozes off and doesn't wake up until 45 minutes into the flight. Natalie is disgusted by the choice of meal entrees, when suddenly a familiar voice offers to have her meal instead. She hopes that she isn't imagining things, but when she turns around, there is Monk, who apparently decided to go to Hawaii as well. But he isn't acting like Monk, but rather like "the Monk" or "the Monkster". As Natalie watches, Monk offers to take portions of food from other passengers. In an attempt to see if this is a hallucination, Natalie asks a girl if she notices anything about the passenger in row 31. The girl's description proves that Natalie isn't hallucinating. The rest of the flight becomes a "living hell" to Natalie, especially with the fact that Monk is not what he seems, so when the flight lands at Honolulu International Airport
, Natalie goes to the bathroom and calls Dr. Kroger. But Kroger isn't horrified at what Natalie describes to him. He tells her that he prescribed a medication called Dioxnyl to Adrian, which is supposed to relieve him of his phobia
s (but which also limits his ability to solve crimes with drastic consequences, as was demonstrated in the season 3
episode "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine"). It is supposed to last twelve hours depending on dosage. Natalie realizes that Monk couldn't live without her, and so he took one of the pills to give him the nerve to make reservations and go to the airport.
Arriving at the Lihue Airport, Natalie meets Candace and her fiance Brian Galloway, a sales representative who makes special-order furniture (he spent a whole summer furnishing a resort in Australia
once).
Getting to the Grand Kiahuna Poipu hotel, Monk and Natalie see that this is where TV psychic
Dylan Swift tapes his show Whispers from the Other Side, on which he supposedly passes messages from dead ones back to their living loved ones.
Monk buys a swimsuit and spends a short time in the pool, which Natalie misses since she has to go to her best friend's rehearsal dinner, although she wishes to have a photo of Monk in a swimming pool to show to Stottlemeyer.
The wedding is aborted, and Natalie comforts her friend as Candace heads back to the airport. Irritated, she also scolds Monk for exposing Galloway as a fraud during the wedding, not before.
's van parked in a cul-de-sac by the bungalows, and Monk decides to check it out.
A dead woman has been found in the hot tub
of her bungalow
. The one-piece swimsuit she wears reminds Natalie of the elephant ballerinas from Fantasia
. As Monk and Natalie observe through the bushes, someone asks them what they are doing. This man introduces himself as Lieutenant Ben Kealoha.
According to Kealoha, the woman, Helen Gruber, was hit on the head with a coconut
while in the hot tub, knocking her out and drowning her. But when Monk says that it wasn't an accident, Natalie realizes the horrifying fact that any opportunity for her to relax in Hawaii is basically gone, as she knows what Monk is going to say: this woman was murdered.
Monk finds several unusual clues in the bungalow that the local police might have missed:
Examining the counter, Monk finds that the victim was killed by the counter, which matches up with the bruise on her shoulder. Kealoha immediately declares that the crime scene is now a homicide
investigation. While riding with Kealoha to lunch, he fills Monk in with more information: Helen Gruber came from Cleveland and her late first husband worked in the paving business. At the place where he eventually takes them, Monk cannot stand the presence of gecko
s on the walls, the sound of the bug zapper, or the fact that their table only has three chairs at it. After a rather horrible experience for Monk, they talk to Lance Vaughan, Helen's widow.
Vaughan is a primary suspect, since almost always when the wife dies the husband is usually responsible. But he swears innocence and the fact that Helen should have died in some other way than be clobbered on the head with a coconut. He also mentions how he married Helen not for money but because she had all the qualities of a wife. Besides, at the time of the murder, his alibi
places him snorkeling
on the Na Pali coast, which is confirmed later by video tape.
Later, Natalie finds Monk arguing with Tetsuo Kapaka, one of the assistant managers, about the replacement of a simple Toblerone candy bar in the minibar in his room. When Monk accidentally asks what Helen Gruber complained about, Tetsuo says that she complained of hearing voices in her head.
Natalie then goes out to the beach for a short swim. When she goes to a bar for a drink, Dylan Swift sits down next to her with a message. When Swift starts mentioning Natalie's late husband, Natalie becomes angered at the invasion of her privacy, wondering how Swift gets this classified information. Swift claims to have a message "from the other side" that comes from Mitch. Afterwards, Natalie believes that Swift is a fraud, and wishes for Monk to find a way to nail him.
When Monk encounters Vaughan in the hotel lobby, he tells him that they never mentioned her hearing voices. Monk becomes convinced that he's the guy, even for the alibi, when they receive a message from Kealoha, asking them to come by the station. On the way out, they see Brian Galloway standing outside his car. Someone shattered the windshield and left a big rip in the car. Brian suspects Candace, his otherwise wife-to-be, responsible. When Monk and Natalie reach the rental car facility, they get a Mustang with 38 miles on the odometer
. While they are there, a couple arrives at the facility, saying that someone sideswipe
d their car.
. Someone has been breaking into residential homes in Poipu, homes that are unoccupied for long periods of time. No one has seen any broken windows or jimmied doors. Three of them took place in broad daylight.
Monk makes the decision to go to the Grand Kiahuna Poipu golf course
to catch the burglar. But Natalie sees things differently, thinking that Kealoha is using Monk. When she comes back from the bathroom, Natalie happens to run into the woman that Vaughan was admiring. This woman pays a check and then travels to her car. Monk and Natalie follow her and are soon on the road. When they eventually do get out of the car, they find themselves at Whaler's Hideaway, a place where one of Dylan Swift's images must have come from.
Returning to the hotel, Natalie tells Monk about her encounter with Dylan Swift. Monk agrees that he is a real fraud, so they start trying to uncode how it really is done. Most likely, when Helen was murdered, Swift found a way to use that information so that it seemed like he was trying to communicate that message from beyond the dead. Then the uncoding happens to come back to Mitch, and Natalie explains that somehow Swift managed to get that information without her feeding him it.
The next morning, Natalie goes on a walk up the beach, encountering some beached monk seals. Back at Whaler's Hideaway, she finds the important clue: the inhabitants are Curtis Potter and Roxanne Shaw, from Cleveland. Returning to the hotel, she finds Monk teaching the hotel staff to fold the towels and not roll them. When Natalie tells Monk about the information she just found, Monk simply says that he knows all of the same details, but he has found them in other ways, such as the towel Roxanne was wearing in the car. Monk has also learned that there was no pie in Helen Gruber's refrigerator on the morning she was murdered, and yet she also loved the pies. Liliko'i pie was one of the things that Swift mentioned in the message to Natalie from "the other side".
Determined to capture the burglar, Monk, Natalie and Kealoha go to the golf course. While on the course, Kealoha mentions that Vaughan had two wives prior to Helen Gruber - Elizabeth Dahl from Philadelphia and Beatrice Woodman from Seattle, both of whom died old; Helen was the youngest wife. After a rather bad time on the hole, they drive over on the cart to the neighborhood nearby. Monk nails the local mailman as the burglar, because the times of the robberies coincide with those of his schedule, and he knows when the houses are vacant.
After a short chase, they stop the mail truck (while the cart drives on by itself and sinks in the water). When they return to the hotel after lunch, Martin Kamakele, the hotel manager, informs them that the folding towel routine that Monk had them do made them fall behind two hours. When Monk can't stand the idea that so many towels will be rolled, Kamakele offers him and Natalie the bungalow where Mrs. Gruber lived.
at a beauty salon
called the Rose in Cleveland. Helen Gruber went there every few weeks.
That evening, they stop by Roxanne and Lance's place, and Monk sees that they have matching barbed wire
tattoos. Monk explains his theory:
Roxanne and Vance were a perfect couple, but greed took the better of them. So somehow Roxanne found Elizabeth Dahl while they were in Philadelphia, and managed to live off of her money. The same process went when they moved to Seattle for Beatrice Woodman. Then they went to Cleveland, and the cycle started all over again for Helen Gruber.
After a long night, Natalie awakens to find Monk transfixed by the fact that the ceiling fans are unsynchronized. To get his mind off the fans, they go out sightseeing, but as they are heading out, they find that someone has stolen
their car, so they first go to a rental car agency to get another car. At a small pub that they stop at afterwards, Monk notices the pies and has Natalie buy one, as he has solved the case.
After bringing Vaughan and Roxanne to the bungalow, Monk explains that Vaughan killed his wife the night before, stuffed her in the refrigerator (explaining why one shelf went in backwards, as Monk earlier observed) and then put her body in the hot tub, helping easily firm an alibi that he was out on the water when she "died". But he still says that someone planted that evidence to frame him. Regardless, he is arrested.
called the "Grand Canyon
of the Pacific
". Natalie only is able to enjoy the view for a few moments because Monk, in the car, starts hyperventilating like he will suffocate. So they drive down to Waimea again and stop at a gift shop, where Natalie buys some merchandise for Julie and also receives a call from Captain Stottlemeyer. She tells him about how Monk believes Swift is a fraud, since the news of Swift's visions has quickly gotten out to Stottlemeyer. Swift returns to San Francisco on Monday night. As they are leaving the gift shop, a truck clips their new car. Overviewing the scene, Monk realizes that the truck driver did see them, but he never slowed down. When Kealoha suggests that they go to the hospital, Monk is reminded of Dylan Swift the psychic.
They go back to Swift later and see that he got a blister
on his hand after he burned himself making breakfast, and Swift tries getting information about Trudy from Adrian. That night, after Natalie makes some reservations, the two find themselves at the luau
garden. As the staff prepare to salt a pig, a red human hand comes up out of the ground, sending everybody except Monk and Natalie running in terror. Monk is convinced that it means the Hawaiians are cannibals. When the police arrive, Keoloha isn't offended when Monk suggests this idea, and he states that if indeed the man were going to be served they would have undressed him. The body is excavated and identified as Martin Kamakele, the manager of operations. Someone hit him over the head with a shovel and buried him. Monk realizes that there's one thing in common between the murder of Kamakele and the murder of Helen Gruber - both took place in broad daylight and both were hit over the head with an object, only the person who murdered Kamakele did it in anger.
On their last full day in Hawaii, Monk sends a letter to Stottlemeyer, which is not to be opened until Monk says so. After breakfast, Natalie walks back to Roxanne Shaw's place. Roxanne swears that her boyfriend is quite innocent and Monk has been fooled - Lance never killed his wife and he indeed was on that boat. Someone framed him. Natalie brings Roxanne's new statement to Monk. Monk says he is now waiting for the right moment to say that he has solved the case. He happens to remove one of the paintings from the wall and put it back up as though he is straightening it. Then Kealoha calls to say that their first car has been found abandoned in a parking lot. Examining it, Monk notices that the seats are stained - the same as Brian Galloway's seats before his car went to the repair shop.
As they go to the last rental car facility, Monk becomes suspicious of the fact that someone has been stealing brand-new cars like theirs and Galloway's for something. It's no wonder why the first car got stolen and then hours later the new one got totaled in the accident. The one thing in common between the couple that was sideswiped, Galloway's vandalized car, and the two cars Monk and Natalie have been in: they were all brand-new. Monk uses a knife to cut open the seat fabric and finds cocaine
hidden in the seat. The repair shop is run by drug dealers, who are tracking the new cars and damaging them deliberately so that they will come to the repair shop. At the shop, the seats are being emptied of cocaine before being put back into the next drug-laden car that comes in.
On Tuesday morning, the day after Swift returns to San Francisco, Monk takes another Dioxnyl pill to handle himself through the flight. Keoloha happens to arrive and tell them that a drug bust on the repair shop found millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Arriving back in San Francisco, the news of the aborted wedding has reached Peggy Davenport, Natalie's mother. Peggy seems ashamed that her daughter brought someone like Monk to Candace's wedding, to which Natalie argues that Monk should be thanked for saving Candace from marrying a possible bigamist.
The morning after his return, Monk returns to his normal self and calls Natalie over the phone. He explains that he has proof that Dylan Swift is a fraud and he has really solved the case. Natalie asks Monk why he can't wait for another day, and Monk explains that Swift is taping his show that day at the Belmont Hotel. He figures that it would be better to expose Swift in front of millions of people.
Arriving at the Belmont, Monk speaks to one of the security guards, saying that if he was turned away Swift might not be happy. It guarantees him and Natalie entry to the ballroom. Scanning the ballroom for seats, they go to the front row and find a pair of empty seats right next to Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher. When Natalie asks Stottlemeyer why he and Disher are there, he explains that Monk dragged them down there. After the show starts, the four make their move. Swift says he is sensing something that begins with the letter M. Disher claims that M is for his Uncle Morty, whom Swift says is not fat. But he also says that Morty is not thin either.
When it's Monk's turn, Swift calls him by his first name like they've known each other for a long time. This is unnerving to Natalie, who knows that Stottlemeyer is Monk's oldest friend, but Stottlemeyer doesn't call Monk by his first name, the same of which can be said for Disher. Swift says that he is sensing something with two N's in it, which Monk identifies as Trudy's security blanket or "night-night". But this happens to be a trap. As soon as Swift finishes picturing the security blanket, Monk immediately breaks into a victory smile and says that he has solved the murder of Martin Kamakele.
Monk gestures for Stottlemeyer and Disher to come up to the stage. The handwritten letter Monk sent to Stottlemeyer states how Monk told a story to Natalie and Natalie only about Trudy's security blanket or "night-night". But in a twist, Monk's letter states that it's a white lie he made up that night. The fact that Swift knew about Trudy's security blanket (even though Monk only told this information to Natalie) is proof that Swift killed Helen Gruber and framed her husband.
Monk has learned that Swift uses a type of grifter's trick called "cold reading", where he tricks people into thinking that he is communicating with the spirits, when in reality the person he is talking to is giving him all of the necessary information. It's the trick that Disher was just proving by using his Uncle Morty. Cold reading isn't Swift's only trick: his shows are taped at hotels. He knows that many people, including his fans and audience, will stay there - important to him, because their rooms are bugged with listening devices.
Swift realized that he could kill Helen Gruber and then capitalize on it by helping Monk solve it. But first, he needed to frame somebody else for the murder. Swift already had heard everything Lance Vaughan and Roxanne Shaw had said about their affair over the listening devices. Vaughan was the perfect fall guy. After Vaughan went out snorkeling with his girlfriend, Swift crept into the bungalow, hit Helen over the head with the coconut, and stuffed her body into the refrigerator for a few minutes so that the police would think her body was in there all night. Then Swift dumped her body into the hot tub, and rather carefully staged a scene that Monk would recognize as being faked.
Kamakele, however, realized what was going on after the news broke. He confronted Swift at the luau garden after Monk claimed to have "solved" the murder. Swift hit him over the head with a shovel, and buried him above the salted pig to be dug up later. Swift burned himself doing so, explaining his blister.
Natalie is stunned by Monk's find. She realizes that the listening devices explain how Swift knew about her trip with Mitch to Mexico and his death in Kosovo
while she mentioned it to Monk in her hotel room. They also explain what Monk was doing - he pretended to be cleaning up while in reality looking for the listening devices.
Swift says that they can't prove any of this, but Monk says that the police are already searching his bungalow for the listening devices. Swift is arrested and the show officially is cancelled. Later, Monk confides to Natalie that the story about Trudy's security blanket was semi-real: in reality, it was his mother's.
has also written several episodes ("Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico", "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather", and "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing") and the novel Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse
and ten other Monk novels (as of September 2011). At least two more–Mr. Monk on Patrol and Mr. Monk is a Mess–are scheduled for publication in 2012.
Goldberg is also the author of the Diagnosis: Murder
novels, which are based on the TV series
on which he served as executive producer and principal writer. His other books include Watch Me Die, Unsold Television Pilots, Successful Television Writing, and The Walk. His TV writing and/or producing credits include Martial Law
, Diagnosis: Murder
, Hunter, Baywatch
, 1-800-Missing
and Monk
.
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
television series. It was written in 2006 by Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
.
Plot synopsis
Candace plans on marrying her fiance Brian Galloway on KauaiKauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
, an island in the northwest part of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. The venue is the fanciest hotel on the island, the Grand Kiahuna Poipu Hotel, in Poipu, Hawaii
Poipu, Hawaii
Poipū is a census-designated place in Kauai County on the southern side of the island of Kauai in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The population was 1,075 at the 2000 census...
. Candace invites her friend Natalie Teeger
Natalie Teeger
Natalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
to be her maid of honor at the wedding. The primary reason for Candace's decision is the fact that she was there for Natalie when Julie was born and when Mitch died. All Natalie is to do is give the ring to Candace at the wedding. However, it only so happens that Natalie is Adrian Monk
Adrian Monk
Adrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department...
's assistant, and so she hires someone from a temporary staffing agency to look in on Monk.
Natalie continues looking for the right moment to tell Monk that she is going to Hawaii when Captain Stottlemeyer
Leland Stottlemeyer
Captain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer is a fictional police officer played by Ted Levine on the American crime drama Monk. He is Captain of the San Francisco Police Department 's Homicide Detail, and a longtime friend of Adrian Monk from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's...
summons Monk to the scene of a bizarre murder. The victim is Dr. Lyle Douglas, a renowned heart surgeon. He was poisoned in the middle of performing a quadruple bypass
Coronary artery bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease...
operation on Stella Picaro, his 44 year old ex-nurse. In the middle of the operation, Douglas had a seizure and dropped dead. Another surgeon, Dr. Troy Clark, rushed in to revive Ms. Picaro. It wasn't until the autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
the next day that they realized he was poisoned. Monk immediately knows who did it, and how: Picaro herself, despite being operated on at the time.
Here's What Happened to Dr. Douglas
Stella Picaro realized she needed heart surgery and found she could also commit the perfect murder. She appealed to Dr. Douglas to do the operation in the hospital he worked at. Douglas applied iodineIodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....
to her skin before making the incision. The iodine was laced with poison. Picaro also applied pinpricks to the gloves Douglas used in the operation. She herself had taken the antidote to the poison, so she wasn't affected, nor were the other doctors, who wore a different brand of gloves that gave Douglas skin rashes.
Monk has singled out the doctors and medical students who were witnessing the operation, since they couldn't poison Douglas without being noticed.
Traveling to Hawaii
Natalie finds the perfect moment to tell Monk of her travels - right before his session with Dr. Kroger. This leaves Kroger to handle Adrian's dilemma.Believing that her worries are over and that Dr. Kroger, Captain Stottlemeyer and the temp worker can take care of Monk, Natalie drives to San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
for her flight. While on the tarmac
Tarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
, she dozes off and doesn't wake up until 45 minutes into the flight. Natalie is disgusted by the choice of meal entrees, when suddenly a familiar voice offers to have her meal instead. She hopes that she isn't imagining things, but when she turns around, there is Monk, who apparently decided to go to Hawaii as well. But he isn't acting like Monk, but rather like "the Monk" or "the Monkster". As Natalie watches, Monk offers to take portions of food from other passengers. In an attempt to see if this is a hallucination, Natalie asks a girl if she notices anything about the passenger in row 31. The girl's description proves that Natalie isn't hallucinating. The rest of the flight becomes a "living hell" to Natalie, especially with the fact that Monk is not what he seems, so when the flight lands at Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.It is located in the Honolulu...
, Natalie goes to the bathroom and calls Dr. Kroger. But Kroger isn't horrified at what Natalie describes to him. He tells her that he prescribed a medication called Dioxnyl to Adrian, which is supposed to relieve him of his phobia
Phobia
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational...
s (but which also limits his ability to solve crimes with drastic consequences, as was demonstrated in the season 3
Monk (season 3)
The third season of Monk originally aired in the United States on USA Network from June 18, 2004 to March 4, 2005. It consisted of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised their roles as the main characters, and Traylor Howard joined the cast. Bitty Schram left...
episode "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine"). It is supposed to last twelve hours depending on dosage. Natalie realizes that Monk couldn't live without her, and so he took one of the pills to give him the nerve to make reservations and go to the airport.
Arriving at the Lihue Airport, Natalie meets Candace and her fiance Brian Galloway, a sales representative who makes special-order furniture (he spent a whole summer furnishing a resort in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
once).
Getting to the Grand Kiahuna Poipu hotel, Monk and Natalie see that this is where TV psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
Dylan Swift tapes his show Whispers from the Other Side, on which he supposedly passes messages from dead ones back to their living loved ones.
Monk buys a swimsuit and spends a short time in the pool, which Natalie misses since she has to go to her best friend's rehearsal dinner, although she wishes to have a photo of Monk in a swimming pool to show to Stottlemeyer.
Aborted wedding
Natalie awakens the next morning to find Monk returned to his normal self. At Candace's wedding, Monk is the only one to have any reason for Candace and Galloway not to marry. He remembers several things that Galloway mentioned, plus some things he has now observed:- Despite what he stated, Brian Galloway is not 28 years old. He has a smallpox vaccination scar on his shoulder. Smallpox vaccinations stopped being offered in 1972.
- Galloway mentioned belonging to the Peace Corps in SomaliaSomaliaSomalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, but they haven't been there officially since 1970. - He said his leg was nearly bitten off by a marlinMarlinMarlin, family Istiophoridae, are fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike...
while on a trawler, which does not have teeth and is fished for sport. - Galloway mentioned being down in Australia all summer, but south of the equator the seasons are reversed. Monk says that he was just trying to cover up being with his wife (Monk has observed a slight buildup of callusCallusA callus is an especially toughened area of skin which has become relatively thick and hard in response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Rubbing that is too frequent or forceful will cause blisters rather than allow calluses to form. Since repeated contact is required, calluses...
on his ring finger near the palm, which would come from a wedding ring after about five years).
The wedding is aborted, and Natalie comforts her friend as Candace heads back to the airport. Irritated, she also scolds Monk for exposing Galloway as a fraud during the wedding, not before.
Murder by coconut
As they walk, they see a few police cars and the medical examinerMedical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
's van parked in a cul-de-sac by the bungalows, and Monk decides to check it out.
A dead woman has been found in the hot tub
Hot tub
A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy....
of her bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
. The one-piece swimsuit she wears reminds Natalie of the elephant ballerinas from Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
. As Monk and Natalie observe through the bushes, someone asks them what they are doing. This man introduces himself as Lieutenant Ben Kealoha.
According to Kealoha, the woman, Helen Gruber, was hit on the head with a coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
while in the hot tub, knocking her out and drowning her. But when Monk says that it wasn't an accident, Natalie realizes the horrifying fact that any opportunity for her to relax in Hawaii is basically gone, as she knows what Monk is going to say: this woman was murdered.
Monk finds several unusual clues in the bungalow that the local police might have missed:
- Helen has been dead for two hours.
- She and her husband Lance Vaughan have been here for a week.
- The crime scene was staged entirely for their benefit.
- The coconut came from a tree not over the hot tub.
Examining the counter, Monk finds that the victim was killed by the counter, which matches up with the bruise on her shoulder. Kealoha immediately declares that the crime scene is now a homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
investigation. While riding with Kealoha to lunch, he fills Monk in with more information: Helen Gruber came from Cleveland and her late first husband worked in the paving business. At the place where he eventually takes them, Monk cannot stand the presence of gecko
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
s on the walls, the sound of the bug zapper, or the fact that their table only has three chairs at it. After a rather horrible experience for Monk, they talk to Lance Vaughan, Helen's widow.
Vaughan is a primary suspect, since almost always when the wife dies the husband is usually responsible. But he swears innocence and the fact that Helen should have died in some other way than be clobbered on the head with a coconut. He also mentions how he married Helen not for money but because she had all the qualities of a wife. Besides, at the time of the murder, his alibi
Alibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
places him snorkeling
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...
on the Na Pali coast, which is confirmed later by video tape.
Later, Natalie finds Monk arguing with Tetsuo Kapaka, one of the assistant managers, about the replacement of a simple Toblerone candy bar in the minibar in his room. When Monk accidentally asks what Helen Gruber complained about, Tetsuo says that she complained of hearing voices in her head.
Natalie then goes out to the beach for a short swim. When she goes to a bar for a drink, Dylan Swift sits down next to her with a message. When Swift starts mentioning Natalie's late husband, Natalie becomes angered at the invasion of her privacy, wondering how Swift gets this classified information. Swift claims to have a message "from the other side" that comes from Mitch. Afterwards, Natalie believes that Swift is a fraud, and wishes for Monk to find a way to nail him.
When Monk encounters Vaughan in the hotel lobby, he tells him that they never mentioned her hearing voices. Monk becomes convinced that he's the guy, even for the alibi, when they receive a message from Kealoha, asking them to come by the station. On the way out, they see Brian Galloway standing outside his car. Someone shattered the windshield and left a big rip in the car. Brian suspects Candace, his otherwise wife-to-be, responsible. When Monk and Natalie reach the rental car facility, they get a Mustang with 38 miles on the odometer
Odometer
An odometer or odograph is an instrument that indicates distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or automobile. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two. The word derives from the Greek words hodós and métron...
. While they are there, a couple arrives at the facility, saying that someone sideswipe
Sideswipe
Sideswipe is the name of several characters in the Transformers universes. Because of trademark restrictions, toys of the character are sometimes marketed as Side Swipe.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
d their car.
Burglaries
At the police station, Kealoha tells them how Helen Gruber was killed between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM while Lance was snorkeling, so automatically he has been ruled out as a suspect. While they are at the station, Monk happens to look at the files for some unsolved burglariesBurglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
. Someone has been breaking into residential homes in Poipu, homes that are unoccupied for long periods of time. No one has seen any broken windows or jimmied doors. Three of them took place in broad daylight.
Monk makes the decision to go to the Grand Kiahuna Poipu golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
to catch the burglar. But Natalie sees things differently, thinking that Kealoha is using Monk. When she comes back from the bathroom, Natalie happens to run into the woman that Vaughan was admiring. This woman pays a check and then travels to her car. Monk and Natalie follow her and are soon on the road. When they eventually do get out of the car, they find themselves at Whaler's Hideaway, a place where one of Dylan Swift's images must have come from.
Returning to the hotel, Natalie tells Monk about her encounter with Dylan Swift. Monk agrees that he is a real fraud, so they start trying to uncode how it really is done. Most likely, when Helen was murdered, Swift found a way to use that information so that it seemed like he was trying to communicate that message from beyond the dead. Then the uncoding happens to come back to Mitch, and Natalie explains that somehow Swift managed to get that information without her feeding him it.
The next morning, Natalie goes on a walk up the beach, encountering some beached monk seals. Back at Whaler's Hideaway, she finds the important clue: the inhabitants are Curtis Potter and Roxanne Shaw, from Cleveland. Returning to the hotel, she finds Monk teaching the hotel staff to fold the towels and not roll them. When Natalie tells Monk about the information she just found, Monk simply says that he knows all of the same details, but he has found them in other ways, such as the towel Roxanne was wearing in the car. Monk has also learned that there was no pie in Helen Gruber's refrigerator on the morning she was murdered, and yet she also loved the pies. Liliko'i pie was one of the things that Swift mentioned in the message to Natalie from "the other side".
Determined to capture the burglar, Monk, Natalie and Kealoha go to the golf course. While on the course, Kealoha mentions that Vaughan had two wives prior to Helen Gruber - Elizabeth Dahl from Philadelphia and Beatrice Woodman from Seattle, both of whom died old; Helen was the youngest wife. After a rather bad time on the hole, they drive over on the cart to the neighborhood nearby. Monk nails the local mailman as the burglar, because the times of the robberies coincide with those of his schedule, and he knows when the houses are vacant.
After a short chase, they stop the mail truck (while the cart drives on by itself and sinks in the water). When they return to the hotel after lunch, Martin Kamakele, the hotel manager, informs them that the folding towel routine that Monk had them do made them fall behind two hours. When Monk can't stand the idea that so many towels will be rolled, Kamakele offers him and Natalie the bungalow where Mrs. Gruber lived.
Here's what Happened to Helen Gruber
As they are settling in to the bungalow, Dylan Swift stops by asking to see Monk. But Monk still doesn't believe him to be a person who can see to the great beyond. The next morning, Kealoha stops by with some new leads - Roxanne Shaw is a hairdresserHairdresser
Hairdresser is a term referring to anyone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques...
at a beauty salon
Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for men and women...
called the Rose in Cleveland. Helen Gruber went there every few weeks.
That evening, they stop by Roxanne and Lance's place, and Monk sees that they have matching barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
tattoos. Monk explains his theory:
Roxanne and Vance were a perfect couple, but greed took the better of them. So somehow Roxanne found Elizabeth Dahl while they were in Philadelphia, and managed to live off of her money. The same process went when they moved to Seattle for Beatrice Woodman. Then they went to Cleveland, and the cycle started all over again for Helen Gruber.
After a long night, Natalie awakens to find Monk transfixed by the fact that the ceiling fans are unsynchronized. To get his mind off the fans, they go out sightseeing, but as they are heading out, they find that someone has stolen
Carjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...
their car, so they first go to a rental car agency to get another car. At a small pub that they stop at afterwards, Monk notices the pies and has Natalie buy one, as he has solved the case.
After bringing Vaughan and Roxanne to the bungalow, Monk explains that Vaughan killed his wife the night before, stuffed her in the refrigerator (explaining why one shelf went in backwards, as Monk earlier observed) and then put her body in the hot tub, helping easily firm an alibi that he was out on the water when she "died". But he still says that someone planted that evidence to frame him. Regardless, he is arrested.
Nailing Swift as a Fraud
While Monk still believes it's time to arrest Swift for the fraud he is, Natalie convinces him not to. The next day, they go out to Waimea Canyon, the canyon that Mark TwainMark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
called the "Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
of the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
". Natalie only is able to enjoy the view for a few moments because Monk, in the car, starts hyperventilating like he will suffocate. So they drive down to Waimea again and stop at a gift shop, where Natalie buys some merchandise for Julie and also receives a call from Captain Stottlemeyer. She tells him about how Monk believes Swift is a fraud, since the news of Swift's visions has quickly gotten out to Stottlemeyer. Swift returns to San Francisco on Monday night. As they are leaving the gift shop, a truck clips their new car. Overviewing the scene, Monk realizes that the truck driver did see them, but he never slowed down. When Kealoha suggests that they go to the hospital, Monk is reminded of Dylan Swift the psychic.
They go back to Swift later and see that he got a blister
Blister
A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing , burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma...
on his hand after he burned himself making breakfast, and Swift tries getting information about Trudy from Adrian. That night, after Natalie makes some reservations, the two find themselves at the luau
Luau
A luau is a Hawaiian feast. It may feature food, such as poi, kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia, and beer; and entertainment, such as Hawaiian music and hula...
garden. As the staff prepare to salt a pig, a red human hand comes up out of the ground, sending everybody except Monk and Natalie running in terror. Monk is convinced that it means the Hawaiians are cannibals. When the police arrive, Keoloha isn't offended when Monk suggests this idea, and he states that if indeed the man were going to be served they would have undressed him. The body is excavated and identified as Martin Kamakele, the manager of operations. Someone hit him over the head with a shovel and buried him. Monk realizes that there's one thing in common between the murder of Kamakele and the murder of Helen Gruber - both took place in broad daylight and both were hit over the head with an object, only the person who murdered Kamakele did it in anger.
On their last full day in Hawaii, Monk sends a letter to Stottlemeyer, which is not to be opened until Monk says so. After breakfast, Natalie walks back to Roxanne Shaw's place. Roxanne swears that her boyfriend is quite innocent and Monk has been fooled - Lance never killed his wife and he indeed was on that boat. Someone framed him. Natalie brings Roxanne's new statement to Monk. Monk says he is now waiting for the right moment to say that he has solved the case. He happens to remove one of the paintings from the wall and put it back up as though he is straightening it. Then Kealoha calls to say that their first car has been found abandoned in a parking lot. Examining it, Monk notices that the seats are stained - the same as Brian Galloway's seats before his car went to the repair shop.
As they go to the last rental car facility, Monk becomes suspicious of the fact that someone has been stealing brand-new cars like theirs and Galloway's for something. It's no wonder why the first car got stolen and then hours later the new one got totaled in the accident. The one thing in common between the couple that was sideswiped, Galloway's vandalized car, and the two cars Monk and Natalie have been in: they were all brand-new. Monk uses a knife to cut open the seat fabric and finds cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
hidden in the seat. The repair shop is run by drug dealers, who are tracking the new cars and damaging them deliberately so that they will come to the repair shop. At the shop, the seats are being emptied of cocaine before being put back into the next drug-laden car that comes in.
On Tuesday morning, the day after Swift returns to San Francisco, Monk takes another Dioxnyl pill to handle himself through the flight. Keoloha happens to arrive and tell them that a drug bust on the repair shop found millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Arriving back in San Francisco, the news of the aborted wedding has reached Peggy Davenport, Natalie's mother. Peggy seems ashamed that her daughter brought someone like Monk to Candace's wedding, to which Natalie argues that Monk should be thanked for saving Candace from marrying a possible bigamist.
The morning after his return, Monk returns to his normal self and calls Natalie over the phone. He explains that he has proof that Dylan Swift is a fraud and he has really solved the case. Natalie asks Monk why he can't wait for another day, and Monk explains that Swift is taping his show that day at the Belmont Hotel. He figures that it would be better to expose Swift in front of millions of people.
Arriving at the Belmont, Monk speaks to one of the security guards, saying that if he was turned away Swift might not be happy. It guarantees him and Natalie entry to the ballroom. Scanning the ballroom for seats, they go to the front row and find a pair of empty seats right next to Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher. When Natalie asks Stottlemeyer why he and Disher are there, he explains that Monk dragged them down there. After the show starts, the four make their move. Swift says he is sensing something that begins with the letter M. Disher claims that M is for his Uncle Morty, whom Swift says is not fat. But he also says that Morty is not thin either.
When it's Monk's turn, Swift calls him by his first name like they've known each other for a long time. This is unnerving to Natalie, who knows that Stottlemeyer is Monk's oldest friend, but Stottlemeyer doesn't call Monk by his first name, the same of which can be said for Disher. Swift says that he is sensing something with two N's in it, which Monk identifies as Trudy's security blanket or "night-night". But this happens to be a trap. As soon as Swift finishes picturing the security blanket, Monk immediately breaks into a victory smile and says that he has solved the murder of Martin Kamakele.
Monk gestures for Stottlemeyer and Disher to come up to the stage. The handwritten letter Monk sent to Stottlemeyer states how Monk told a story to Natalie and Natalie only about Trudy's security blanket or "night-night". But in a twist, Monk's letter states that it's a white lie he made up that night. The fact that Swift knew about Trudy's security blanket (even though Monk only told this information to Natalie) is proof that Swift killed Helen Gruber and framed her husband.
Monk has learned that Swift uses a type of grifter's trick called "cold reading", where he tricks people into thinking that he is communicating with the spirits, when in reality the person he is talking to is giving him all of the necessary information. It's the trick that Disher was just proving by using his Uncle Morty. Cold reading isn't Swift's only trick: his shows are taped at hotels. He knows that many people, including his fans and audience, will stay there - important to him, because their rooms are bugged with listening devices.
Here's What Really Happened to Helen Gruber
Martin Kamakele was the Belmont Hotel's manager of operations. In a deal with Swift, he bugged the rooms at the Belmont. When he supervised the remodeling of the Grand Kiahuna Poipu's rooms, he also bugged them thoroughly. Not a single person knew about the perfect scheme. Except for one person: Helen Gruber. She complained to the staff about hearing voices in her hearing aid, but Swift knew that her hearing aids picked up the transmissions from the listening devices. Swift realized he couldn't take the chance of Mrs. Gruber finding out. He was already planning to kill her when Monk showed up.Swift realized that he could kill Helen Gruber and then capitalize on it by helping Monk solve it. But first, he needed to frame somebody else for the murder. Swift already had heard everything Lance Vaughan and Roxanne Shaw had said about their affair over the listening devices. Vaughan was the perfect fall guy. After Vaughan went out snorkeling with his girlfriend, Swift crept into the bungalow, hit Helen over the head with the coconut, and stuffed her body into the refrigerator for a few minutes so that the police would think her body was in there all night. Then Swift dumped her body into the hot tub, and rather carefully staged a scene that Monk would recognize as being faked.
Kamakele, however, realized what was going on after the news broke. He confronted Swift at the luau garden after Monk claimed to have "solved" the murder. Swift hit him over the head with a shovel, and buried him above the salted pig to be dug up later. Swift burned himself doing so, explaining his blister.
Natalie is stunned by Monk's find. She realizes that the listening devices explain how Swift knew about her trip with Mitch to Mexico and his death in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
while she mentioned it to Monk in her hotel room. They also explain what Monk was doing - he pretended to be cleaning up while in reality looking for the listening devices.
Swift says that they can't prove any of this, but Monk says that the police are already searching his bungalow for the listening devices. Swift is arrested and the show officially is cancelled. Later, Monk confides to Natalie that the story about Trudy's security blanket was semi-real: in reality, it was his mother's.
Other Monk novels
- Monk also uses Dioxnyl to combat his fear of flying in Mr. Monk Goes to GermanyMr. Monk Goes to GermanyMr. Monk Goes to Germany is the sixth novel by Lee Goldberg to be based on the television series Monk. It was published on July 1, 2008.-Plot summary:...
. - In the beginning of the novel, Natalie mentions the time that Monk moved in with her and Julie while his apartment was being fumigated in Mr. Monk Goes to the FirehouseMr. Monk Goes to the FirehouseMr. Monk and the Dirty Cop is the eighth novel written by Lee Goldberg to be based on the television series Monk. It was published on July 7, 2009. Like the other novels, the story is narrated by Natalie Teeger, Monk's assistant.-Plot summary:...
.
Main series
- The (fictional) anti-OCD drug, Dioxnyl, was introduced in the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine," where it proved to have such a disastrous effect on Adrian's abilities as a detective that he swore never to take it again. Hence, when Natalie calls Dr. Kroger from the Honolulu airport to say that Adrian is on drugs, Kroger gets surprised to find that he is taking Dioxnyl again. Fortunately, unlike in the episode, Monk is able to limit his intake of the pills, only taking them whenever flying is necessary.
- Natalie mentions Mitch's death many times over the course of the novel, some elements of which she mentioned in the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk and the Election".
- When Keoloha mentions Lance Vaughan's first two wives, he mentions that Elizabeth Dahl was from Philadelphia and Beatrice Woodman was from Seattle. In fact, this alludes to Darlene Coolidge, the black widowBlack WidowBlack widow is a common name of some spiders in the genus Latrodectus.Black Widow may also refer to:-Fiction:* Black Widow: A Novel, a 1981 novel by Christina Crawford...
who tried to kill both Lieutenant Disher and Natalie's brother Jonathan Davenport in the season 4 episode "Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding":- Monk mentions that when Randy Disher was a police sergeant in Philadelphia, Randy was the chief investigating officer into the death of Darlene Coolidge's (at the time of the episode, using the name Theresa Scott) husband. Monk then explains how Randy would have ID'd Theresa as Darlene, hence why she tried to run him down in the parking lot. The fact that Elizabeth Dahl, Lance Vaughan's first wife, was from Philadelphia alludes to this.
- Later, when Randy IDs Theresa Scott as Darlene Coolidge, he mentions "they lost track of her in Seattle, back in 2001. By that time, her name was Phyllis Gaffney, and she was already on husband #3." This is alluded to by the fact that Beatrice Woodman comes from Seattle.
Crossovers with other series
- The name and character of Lieutenant Ben Keoloha originate from the Diagnosis: MurderDiagnosis: MurderDiagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
novel The Death Merchant, also written by Lee Goldberg.- Another character who was prominent in The Death Merchant was Ian Ludlow, who later appears in the novel Mr. Monk and the Two AssistantsMr. Monk and the Two AssistantsMr. Monk and the Two Assistants is the fourth novel based on the television series Monk by Lee Goldberg. It is the first Monk novel to be published in hardcover, on July 3, 2007...
as a private consultant to the Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
.
- Another character who was prominent in The Death Merchant was Ian Ludlow, who later appears in the novel Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants
- In the start of the novel, Natalie mentions how all of the best detectives are nuts, using Nero WolfeNero WolfeNero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
and Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
as examples, and explains that their assistants helped them to investigate (respectively Archie GoodwinArchie Goodwin (fictional detective)Archie Goodwin is a fictional character and detective in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. The witty voice of all the stories, he recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 to 1975 . He lives in Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York City.Archie was born on October 23 in Chillicothe, Ohio,...
and Dr. Watson).
Characters from the television series
- Adrian MonkAdrian MonkAdrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department...
: the titular detective, played on the series by Tony ShalhoubTony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk... - Natalie TeegerNatalie TeegerNatalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
: Monk's loyal assistant and the narrator of the book, played on the series by Traylor HowardTraylor HowardTraylor Elizabeth Howard is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sharon Carter on the television series Two Guys and a Girl and as Natalie Teeger on the USA Network series Monk.-Early life:... - Captain Leland StottlemeyerLeland StottlemeyerCaptain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer is a fictional police officer played by Ted Levine on the American crime drama Monk. He is Captain of the San Francisco Police Department 's Homicide Detail, and a longtime friend of Adrian Monk from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's...
: Captain of the San Francisco Police DepartmentSan Francisco Police DepartmentThe San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
's Homicide Division; Monk's oldest friend and former partner; played on the series by Ted LevineTed LevineFrank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:... - Lieutenant Randy Disher: Stottlemeyer's right-hand man, played on the series by Jason Gray-Stanford
- Dr. Charles Kroger: Monk's psychiatrist, played on the series by Stanley KamelStanley KamelStanley Kamel was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Charles Kroger on the American television series Monk.-Biography:...
- Julie Teeger: Natalie's teenaged daughter, played on the series by Emmy ClarkeEmmy ClarkeMary Elizabeth Clarke , better known as Emmy Clarke, is an American actress.At the age of one Clarke moved with her parents to Houston, Texas. At age 6 she moved to Woking, England, where she attended TASIS England before moving to New York City at age 11. The nickname "Emmy" is derived from her...
- Peggy Davenport: Natalie's wealthy mother, played on the series by Holland TaylorHolland TaylorHolland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...
- Trudy Monk: Adrian's late wife who was killed by a car bombCar bombA car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
, played on the series by Stellina Ruisch and Melora HardinMelora HardinMelora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:... - Warrick Tennyson (mentioned only): the man who built the bomb that killed Trudy, played on the series by Frank CollisonFrank CollisonFrank Collison is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.-Early life:...
- Mitch Teeger (mentioned only): Natalie's late husband who was shot down over Kosovo
Original characters
- Dr. Lyle Douglas: a heart surgeon who was poisoned during an operation
- Stella Picaro: Dr. Douglas's patient
- Candace: A close friend of Natalie's who lives in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. She wants Natalie to be the maid of honor at her wedding. She is also the whole reason why Natalie, and Monk, come out to Hawaii. - Brian Galloway: Candace's would-be-husband had Monk not discovered he was a bigamistBigamyIn cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
. He sells custom-made furniture to clients ranging from five-star hotels to prison cells. - Lieutenant Ben Keoloha: Kauai's police lieutenant. He speaks with a pidginPidginA pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
accent that Monk cannot interpret at first. - Dylan Swift: Producer and host of the TV show Whispers from the Other Side. Monk and Natalie believe him to be a fraud and psychic. No one knows where or how he gets his information on deceased people like Monk's and Natalie's spouses (Trudy and Mitch, respectively). He is also a famous author (Natalie mentions that you can literally see Swift everywhere, his face "daring you not to buy the book").
- Martin Kamakele: Manager of operations at the Belmont Hotel and the Grand Kiahuna Poipu
- Helen Gruber: Murder victim from Cleveland.
- Lance Vaughan: Helen's husband, who happens to marry old ladies so that he and his girlfriend can live off of their money. He has done this scheme with women in Philadelphia and Seattle as well.
- Roxanne Shaw: Lance Vaughan's girlfriend
- Tetsuo Kapaka: assistant manager at the Grand Kiahuna Poipu
- Elizabeth Dahl: Lance Vaughan's first wife
- Beatrice Woodman: Vaughan's second wife
Author
Lee GoldbergLee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
has also written several episodes ("Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico", "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather", and "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing") and the novel Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse
Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse
Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop is the eighth novel written by Lee Goldberg to be based on the television series Monk. It was published on July 7, 2009. Like the other novels, the story is narrated by Natalie Teeger, Monk's assistant.-Plot summary:...
and ten other Monk novels (as of September 2011). At least two more–Mr. Monk on Patrol and Mr. Monk is a Mess–are scheduled for publication in 2012.
Goldberg is also the author of the Diagnosis: Murder
Diagnosis: Murder
Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
novels, which are based on the TV series
Diagnosis: Murder
Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
on which he served as executive producer and principal writer. His other books include Watch Me Die, Unsold Television Pilots, Successful Television Writing, and The Walk. His TV writing and/or producing credits include Martial Law
Martial Law (TV series)
Martial Law was a TV crime drama that ran on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.The show was a...
, Diagnosis: Murder
Diagnosis: Murder
Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
, Hunter, Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
, 1-800-Missing
1-800-Missing
Missing is a Canadian-American crime drama television series based on the 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU book series by Meg Cabot...
and Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
.