Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu
Encyclopedia
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu is the third novel by writer Lee Goldberg
to be based on the television series Monk
. Like the previous two books, the book is narrated by Natalie Teeger
, Monk's assistant.
and Natalie Teeger
are called to the scene of a murder in Golden Gate Park
. A woman has been strangled and her left running shoe taken. Although Captain Stottlemeyer
tries to get Monk to look at the crime scene closer, Monk uses binoculars
loaned to him by Officer Kent Milner to learn that this woman comes from the Republic of Georgia. Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher remark that this is the third killing in the park of this nature. Disher argues that they should call the killer the Foot Maniac. But the eventual name of this killer is the Golden Gate Strangler.
As they leave the scene, Stottlemeyer tells Monk that the city has been planning on making deep cuts in their pay, medical benefits, and pension
contributions. Negotiations between the union and the city walked away that morning. He explains that although it's illegal for police officers to strike
, there is a strain of the flu going around. Monk initially thinks that it's a disease
until Stottlemeyer explains that it's called the Blue Flu, where the police officers call in "sick" until they get a better contract.
The next day, 70% of the detectives' bureau of the San Francisco Police Department
calls in sick. Natalie goes out shopping to buy new clothes for Julie, but after a pregnant woman takes a blouse Natalie wanted, Monk exposes the pregnant woman, a man with an oxygen tank
, and a nun
in the department store as a set of shoplifters
. Later, Natalie has a rendezvous with Stottlemeyer in which the Captain explains he is beginning to understand and act a lot like Monk. As they talk, Natalie receives a call. The mayor wants to see her and Monk.
(a reference to a scene where Monk is talking to the mayor in the season 5 episode "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike"). Smitrovich is concerned about the lack of policing out on the streets, and although Natalie states to Smitrovich that Monk won't work for anyone, Smitrovich says that he'll have them working for him. He wants Monk to be reinstated to the police department as acting captain of the Homicide division. Although Natalie tries to convince Monk not to accept the mayor's offer, Monk goes ahead and accepts it.
Monk is all too pleased to have his badge back. Natalie does some research behind Monk's new assisting detectives: "Mad Jack" Wyatt, Cynthia Chow, and Frank Porter. Wyatt gets his nickname from his violent and unconventional methods on the street and in the department. Chow is a paranoid conspiracy theorist
who has spent much of her dangerous life undercover
, who thinks that extraterrestrial
s are trying to impregnate her. Porter is an old veteran detective who took a retirement last year at the clear onset of senility.
On Monk's first day back in the homicide division, he and Natalie meet Frank Porter and his granddaughter Sparrow. Monk is now being referred to not as Mr. Monk but as Captain Monk, since he is acting captain. Natalie feels an unexpected kinship with Sparrow. Then Monk disappears and is found in the evidence room lamenting how the Golden Gate Strangler, whoever he is, is upsetting Monk's beliefs about the balance of the universe. Monk instructs Porter to immediately double check the dead women's' credit card
purchases and to map out the crime scenes.
. Chow explains that someone came into the house last night and stabbed Allegra several times with a letter opener
or ice pick. Monk goes into the bathroom and finds that someone broke off the towel rack. As he and Natalie leave the crime scene, he can't help but notice a lack of evidence pointing to forced entry
. All that is certain is that Allegra knew the killer, judging from the lack of defensive wounds. They go and talk to Madam Frost, Allegra's elderly competitor just across the street. Frost talks like she didn't exactly like Allegra Doucet, and also says that Allegra was a fraud. Monk realizes that Frost has a motive for murdering her neighbor.
. Porter also comes on to explain that none of the Strangler women knew each other nor saw each other. Natalie and Monk get in a marked patrol car to race to the new crime scene. When they arrive, most of the people viewing the crime scene are paying attention to the car that crashed into a storefront around the corner. A tall figure walks towards them, whom Natalie identifies as Mad Jack Wyatt. Monk points out that Wyatt shot out two of the tires on the crashed car, causing it to fly into the storefront and catch fire. Wyatt recognized the driver as Trinidad Lopez, a suspect in a string of ATM
holdups.
Wyatt briefs them on the victim in the street. The man's name is John Yamada, age 44, and he is an architect
. While jaywalking
to the market, he was struck by a car and killed. But Monk realizes that this is a premeditated murder and not a hit-and-run when he notices skid marks that indicate the driver to have double parked. Monk points to the dirt around the patrol car that he and Natalie arrived at the scene in, and indicates that it came from a front and a rear point on the car. This means that the dirt came off when the car was in idle. The driver was waiting for Yamada to set foot in the intersection before s/he ran him down. Then Natalie receives another call from Officer Curtis about another murder, causing her to say the city is becoming more unsafe by the minute.
when she tumbled in front of the bus. The driver couldn't stop in time and his bus dragged her body down the hill. An alley intersects the street halfway down the hill, and this is where Monk and Natalie meet with Sparrow and Porter. Monk realizes that this is another premeditated murder, and indicates that the kiler sat on the vegetable crate Porter is sitting on and waited for Diane Truby to pass the alley. Then the killer pushed her in front of the bus, and was never seen. He knows that the killer sat on the crate
as from there, no one can see you on the street. The killer used the reflection of the mirror utilized by the homeowner so that he could watch for traffic on the street as he backed his car out. Of course, Porter has forgotten who Monk is, and Natalie has to get him back to his senses.
That night, Natalie is proud of Monk for having his badge back and keeping the SFPD running efficiently even with the number of officers "suffering" from the Blue Flu. Monk laments that these are much simpler murders, ones Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher solve every day. Afterwards, they take Julie for a short ride in the patrol car, and also "imprison" Julie in the holding cell at the police station. When they arrive, Curtis says that Natalie's Jeep is out in the impound lot, and also informs her that Officer Krupp would appreciate the return of his patrol car. Up in the Homicide Division, Julie is able to identify the brands of each of the shoes the Golden Gate Strangler victims were wearing. She also says that these are obsolete styles, sold out of trucks at freeway off-ramps.
at a convenience store
and the clerk has been killed. Ramin Touzie is the victim's name. Several black-dressed men had him empty the cash register and then they shot him and ran out back. Monk exposes Lorna Karsch, the night clerk, as the murderer, although when he is telling Karsch that she smells like a toilet bowl, Riglin doesn't appreciate the insult.
The next morning, Monk instructs his squad and sidekicks that they are going to be reorganizing the squad room accordingly to his liking. Chow informs Monk and Natalie that she has found one person who may have a motive for killing Allegra Doucet. She says that Max Collins, who sells expensive pieces of artwork, lost millions of dollars in bad investments he made based on Allegra's advice. Porter also informs them that he did some digging and found that a customer at the restaurant where Diane Truby worked was stalking her, and this stalker disappeared shortly after her death. Natalie then takes Monk into Captain Stottlemeyer's office, and privately explains that she is concerned that Monk will be working himself to death solving all of these homicides. Later, Monk and Natalie have a secret rendezvous with Stottlemeyer. The Captain is distressed with the fact that Monk has taken over his position. He also states that the two important things in his life were his job and his wife.
Collins states that he had heard about Allegra for quite a while, and then, after he lost $3 million, he had a private investigator
do some digging, and found that the companies Collins invested in were paying her to steer wealthy clients her way. He tells Monk and Natalie that on the night Allegra was murdered, he was visiting his mother, just around the corner, so he has an alibi
that places him in the neighborhood at the time. To Monk, Collins has means, motive
, and opportunity to kill Allegra. Then Officer Curtis calls Natalie to inform them that there is one less tax-paying citizen out there. On the way over to the new murder, Natalie happens to drive over the speed limit
and gets pulled over and issued a ticket.
At this crime scene, Scott Eggers has been found dead in the alley
behind his house on Tenth Avenue. Monk sees that the killer bludgeoned
Eggers while he was on the way to his car, grabbed a grocery bag from the trash, and suffocated him. Eggers was discovered by his lover, Hank Criswell. Criswell tells them to go arrest Merle Smetter, whom Eggers and Criswell ratted out to the city after catching him installing a hot tub
and redwood deck on his roof without a permit. Monk is not convinced that Smetter could have killed Eggers, when he and Natalie spot Officer Milner there. Milner has been trying to work in overtime
to support his family, especially when the number of "sick" officers has those who remain stretched far and wide across San Francisco. Milner asks if any progress has been made on the Golden Gate Strangler case. Monk states that there has been none.
. The man then got into his 1999 Ford Taurus
, which had a broken left rear taillight and a dent on the bumper. Bertrum continues, saying that the last part of the license plate number was M567, like his mother's birthday (May 5, 1967). Monk has Officer Curtis search for any Ford Tauruses with M567 as the last four digits of the license plate number. Monk believes, however, that Bertrum is being partially dishonest about his facts, since it's not a proper time to grow strawberries.
Curtis enters M567 into the computer. There is a hit, which matches a 1999 Ford Taurus with M567 as the last part of the license plate number to a man named Charlie Herrin. Monk, Natalie, Wyatt, and Arnie organize a SWAT
team to raid Herrin's apartment. After Herrin briefly takes Monk hostage and Wyatt discusses planning on shooting him, Herrin gives himself up. Forensic teams find evidence that confirms Charlie Herrin to be the Golden Gate Strangler. Monk believes that Herrin only recently escalated to murder and has been taking peoples' left shoes for some time. Monk explains to Natalie that he believes Bertrum Gruber to be even more dishonest than before, saying that Bertrum remembered the M567 in Herrin's license plate because it reminded him of his mother's birthday. Now if she was born on May 5, 1967, it means she would have been ten years old when Bertrum was born.
. Except for Allegra Doucet, all of the murder victims are 44 years old, and all of them were born on the exact same date: February 20, 1962. Monk doesn't know who killed Allegra Doucet or why, but he knows why the other three people were killed, and states that they need to take immediate action.
Monk and Natalie return to Allegra's house with Chow and Jasper. They find that Allegra was killed while she was with a client who was in the bathroom. The killer used the astronomical chart in an attempt to track down the witness. Chow offers to analyze the astronomical chart, as Officer Curtis calls Natalie to report a new homicide. But what she hears next is shocking: the murder victim is Officer Kent Milner.
At the abandoned warehouse
where Milner was found next to his cruiser, Monk and Natalie find Stottlemeyer and Disher there. Many of the "sick" detectives have returned, if only to investigate the murder of one of their own. The fact that Milner never unholstered his gun indicates he wasn't expecting trouble. Monk believes that Milner either saw something suspicious and came to check it out, or was meeting with a secret informant
. Disher mentions having taken the time to sign up for a class taught by Ian Ludlow, the Tolstoy of the Mean Streets. Monk looks at several brochure
s in Milner's car, and sees that the rookie officer was looking at new homes in Marin County and at Hawaii travel brochures, like he had money to spend. This is ironic, considering that Kent Milner was at the lowest paying rank in the department.
is in Aquarius and Venus
is in Pisces. Uranus
is in Leo
. so this client likes his freedom and hasn't had much self-discipline. The fact that Neptune
is in Scorpio
means that he is short-tempered and violent. Monk has solved the case, and knows who killed the astrologer.
, Monk and Natalie arrive. Monk explains that they have come to arrest Madam Frost for the murders of Allegra Doucet, John Yamada, Diane Truby and Scott Eggers. The fact that Collins is underestimating Frost is (according to Monk) the fatal mistake Allegra made. After Monk reveals that Allegra was driving clients away from Madam Frost and putting her neighbor out of business, he gives a sumnation.
Allegra Doucet was with a client on Friday night, when the client excused himself to go to the bathroom. Madam Frost then showed up on some friendly pretense, but Allegra didn't know what was happening until it was too late. Frost stabbed her several times, enough times that Allegra was dead before her body even hit the floor. Then the toilet flushed and Madam Frost realized that there was another person in the house. By the time she got to the bathroom, the client had escaped out the window. This client had seen too much, and Frost needed to silence him or her. She used the astronomical chart to find people in San Francisco born on February 20, 1962, and used this chart to track the witness down. Frost was in a hurry to kill the witness before he could tell the police. All three of the other murders were improvised, and like Allegra, these victims were killed from behind or by surprise.
When Monk and Natalie came to talk to Frost on Saturday morning, she was walking up to her house. She had had to park the car she had just used to kill John Yamada on a side street because the police were blocking her driveway. When she killed Diane Truby, she had bought the vegetable crate so she had something to sit on while waiting for her victim to stroll by. Frost also waited in an alleyway for Scott Eggers. She bludgeoned him, then suffocated him with a bag taken out of the trash. Madam Frost confesses to the murders, and is arrested.
On Tuesday, Dr. Kroger congratulates Adrian for having been reinstated to the force at last. Kroger explains to Natalie how no one asked him about Porter, Chow or Wyatt, whom he had referred to the department earlier. Dr. Kroger states that under normal circumstances they wouldn't be back at the department. Returning to the squad room, Wyatt explains that Porter put together a list of witnesses and they found their murder witness: Tono Busok, who didn't come to the police out of fear that his bootlegging
operation would be discovered.
Monk and Natalie go to the jail to question Charlie Herrin. Herrin's left shoe craze is still present, and he takes Natalie's shoe. Monk shows a picture of Officer Milner, and Herrin remembers Milner as the officer who pulled him over for speeding on Saturday. Herrin accidentally had run a red light and clipped another car in the intersection, but they both walked away like nothing happened. He dented his bumper and broke one of his rear taillights. Then Herrin got pulled over for doing 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Herrin was still clutching one of the murder victims' shoes, and he threw it in the back seat just before Officer Milner stepped up to the car. Milner issued Herrin a ticket, but he also saw the shoes and realized that he had just accidentally found the Golden Gate Strangler.
After Natalie gets some new shoes to replace the ones Herrin took from her, she calls Bertrum Gruber asking him to meet them at the pier. At the pier, Bertrum gives them the statement he gave to them earlier. Monk reveals that Herrin didn't break his taillight or dent his bumper until after he left the park, and that Bertrum's mother can't have been born on May 5, 1967. All of the statements Bertrum was giving were in fact the very information that Officer Kent Milner gave him when he agreed to the scheme of taking half of the reward. Stottlemeyer explains that they've got a search warrant
and are going to be testing his clothes for gunshot residue
that will match the gun that killed Milner.
Bertrum puts a gun to Monk's head, and threatens to shoot, but when Monk vomits on the dock, Bertrum is distracted long enough that he is tackled to the ground and arrested. Mayor Smitrovich is humiliated that he rewarded a cop killer, and he caves in to all of the police union's demands in exchange for a cover up in the press, making it seem like he knew Bertrum was guilty all along and was cooperating with the police in a sting.
Monk feels glad to have been reinstated, when Stottlemeyer tells Monk that his reinstatement is now void. Natalie is furious, but Stottlemeyer says he has no wish of extending the mayor's offer. Natalie tells the other detectives' assistants to keep in touch with each other from time to time. After the speeding ticket from earlier, Monk is able to convince Natalie to go to traffic school.
, and was based on Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, in much the same way that the season 5
episode "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing" was based on the novel Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse
.
calls Adrian Monk
to his office for some important news. Monk assumes the worst, but the news is actually positive. After twelve years, Monk's wish of being reinstated to the police force has been fulfilled.
Monk is nervous and excited for his first day back. As Natalie
sends Monk off to work, she reveals that she has an interview for a glamorous job with a concert promoter. As Monk and Natalie say goodbye, Monk laments that this could be the end of their partnership.
At police headquarters, Monk receives a warm welcome from his fellow officers. Stottlemeyer has even arranged for Monk to sit at the same desk he used years before. Monk is disappointed to learn, hoewever, that he’s been relegated to desk duty in the case of the Pick Axe
Killer, the department’s hottest case. Later that day, Officer Russell DiMarco, a colleague of Monk's, bursts in to the office announcing that the Pick Axe Killer has been arrested. A window washer named Manny Alvarez saw someone matching the killer’s description and tipped off the police. It’s great news, but Monk is a little disappointed that the case was solved without his help.
A week later, Natalie is enjoying her exciting new job in the music business, and Monk has left his desk job to begin working with a new partner, Detective Doyle. Monk has suspicions about Manny Alvarez’s story, so he takes a break from his work with Doyle to investigate the location where Manny claimed that he had "spotted" the Pick Axe Killer. Monk quickly establishes that it would have been impossible for Manny to see the killer from that vantage point. Although Monk shares this information with his superiors, no one wants to entertain any theories that might interfere with the successful closure of a highly-publicized case, especially since the man who was arrested on Manny Alvarez's tip confessed to being the Pick Axe Killer.
That night, Officer DiMarco is on his way home and meets with a mysterious informant
. After DiMarco receives his payoff, the informant shoots him dead.
The police believe that Russell DiMarco saw something going down on his way home, tried to intervene, and was killed. But Monk suspects that DiMarco may have been murdered while receiving some kind of illegal payoff
. Monk’s theory makes him a pariah, as cops are supposed to protect the reputations of their brethren. If Monk has any hope of surviving in his new job, he needs to back up his accusations against Officer DiMarco. When Monk comes across Officer DiMarco’s ticket book, he finds the evidence he needs to prove his theory and arrest Manny Alvarez for the murder.
Monk has solved the case, but now he’s got a major problem. Manny has pulled a gun and ordered Monk onto the scaffold. Manny raises the scaffold and tries to push Monk off. Monk struggles with Manny as his fellow police officers watch from below. Monk wins the struggle and lowers the scaffold back to street level, where his coworkers are waiting. It’s clear that Monk was right all along, and Manny is taken into custody.
Despite having solved a murder during his short time back with the police, Monk decides to relinquish his badge. Natalie, who’s missed the excitement of working with Monk, agrees to return to her job as his assistant. Monk is disappointed that his return to the force didn’t last, but now he knows that he doesn’t need a badge to be happy. He can go forward to find contentment in his life with Natalie by his side, solving crimes on his own, unique terms.
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...
to be based on the television series 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...
. Like the previous two books, the book is narrated by 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...
, Monk's assistant.
Plot summary
From the jacket summary:
Monk is horrified when he learns there's going to be a blue flu in San Francisco — until Captain Stottlemeyer explains that it just means the police plan to call in "sick" until they get a better contract. The good news is the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force. The bad news is it means he'll be a "scab" — and he doesn't like the sound of that either. But before he knows it, Monk has his badge back, and his own squad to command. Unfortunately, some of the squad members make Monk look like a paragon of mental health. But despite the challenges, they'll have to pull together to catch an astrologer's killer, solve a series of mysterious fatal assaults, and most importantly, clean up their desks.
Blue Flu strikes
Adrian MonkAdrian 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...
and 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...
are called to the scene of a murder in Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
. A woman has been strangled and her left running shoe taken. Although 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...
tries to get Monk to look at the crime scene closer, Monk uses binoculars
Binoculars
Binoculars, field glasses or binocular telescopes are a pair of identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes when viewing distant objects...
loaned to him by Officer Kent Milner to learn that this woman comes from the Republic of Georgia. Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher remark that this is the third killing in the park of this nature. Disher argues that they should call the killer the Foot Maniac. But the eventual name of this killer is the Golden Gate Strangler.
As they leave the scene, Stottlemeyer tells Monk that the city has been planning on making deep cuts in their pay, medical benefits, and pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
contributions. Negotiations between the union and the city walked away that morning. He explains that although it's illegal for police officers to strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, there is a strain of the flu going around. Monk initially thinks that it's a disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
until Stottlemeyer explains that it's called the Blue Flu, where the police officers call in "sick" until they get a better contract.
The next day, 70% of the detectives' bureau of the San Francisco Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
The 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...
calls in sick. Natalie goes out shopping to buy new clothes for Julie, but after a pregnant woman takes a blouse Natalie wanted, Monk exposes the pregnant woman, a man with an oxygen tank
Oxygen tank
An oxygen tank is a storage vessel for oxygen, which is either held under pressure in gas cylinders or as liquid oxygen in a cryogenic storage tank.Oxygen tanks are used to store gas for:* industrial processes including the manufacture of steel and monel...
, and a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
in the department store as a set of shoplifters
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
. Later, Natalie has a rendezvous with Stottlemeyer in which the Captain explains he is beginning to understand and act a lot like Monk. As they talk, Natalie receives a call. The mayor wants to see her and Monk.
Monk Gets Reinstated
Mayor Barry Smitrovich does criticize Monk for the detective's proposal of straightening out Lombard StreetLombard Street
There are several famous Lombard Streets:* Lombard Street , famed for its twists and turns* Lombard Street, London, leading from the Bank of England to Gracechurch Street...
(a reference to a scene where Monk is talking to the mayor in the season 5 episode "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike"). Smitrovich is concerned about the lack of policing out on the streets, and although Natalie states to Smitrovich that Monk won't work for anyone, Smitrovich says that he'll have them working for him. He wants Monk to be reinstated to the police department as acting captain of the Homicide division. Although Natalie tries to convince Monk not to accept the mayor's offer, Monk goes ahead and accepts it.
Monk is all too pleased to have his badge back. Natalie does some research behind Monk's new assisting detectives: "Mad Jack" Wyatt, Cynthia Chow, and Frank Porter. Wyatt gets his nickname from his violent and unconventional methods on the street and in the department. Chow is a paranoid conspiracy theorist
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
who has spent much of her dangerous life undercover
Undercover
Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
, who thinks that extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
s are trying to impregnate her. Porter is an old veteran detective who took a retirement last year at the clear onset of senility.
On Monk's first day back in the homicide division, he and Natalie meet Frank Porter and his granddaughter Sparrow. Monk is now being referred to not as Mr. Monk but as Captain Monk, since he is acting captain. Natalie feels an unexpected kinship with Sparrow. Then Monk disappears and is found in the evidence room lamenting how the Golden Gate Strangler, whoever he is, is upsetting Monk's beliefs about the balance of the universe. Monk instructs Porter to immediately double check the dead women's' credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
purchases and to map out the crime scenes.
Allegra Doucet
Curtis informs Monk that there has been a homicide in the Haight-Ashbury district, an astrologer named Allegra Doucet. At the crime scene, Monk and Natalie meet detective #2, Cindy Chow and her psychologist Jasper Perry. Chow's paranoia clearly shows itself when she first is introduced to Monk. Natalie also develops a kinship with Jasper. Monk and Natalie enter the house and find that Allegra is more like a fashion model than an astrologerAstrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
. Chow explains that someone came into the house last night and stabbed Allegra several times with a letter opener
Letter opener
A paper knife or letter opener is a knife-like object used to open envelopes or to slit uncut pages of books. Electric versions are also available, which work by using motors to slide the envelopes across a blade...
or ice pick. Monk goes into the bathroom and finds that someone broke off the towel rack. As he and Natalie leave the crime scene, he can't help but notice a lack of evidence pointing to forced entry
Forced Entry
Forced Entry may refer to:*Forced entry or forcible entry, entering into property, lawfully or unlawfully, by use of forceIn film:*Forced Entry , a pornographic film starring Harry Reems...
. All that is certain is that Allegra knew the killer, judging from the lack of defensive wounds. They go and talk to Madam Frost, Allegra's elderly competitor just across the street. Frost talks like she didn't exactly like Allegra Doucet, and also says that Allegra was a fraud. Monk realizes that Frost has a motive for murdering her neighbor.
John Yamada
Monk then mentions that they are going back to police headquarters, and then asks how they are going to get there. Natalie realizes that her car has been towed, when she receives a call from Officer Curtis about a hit-and-runHit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
. Porter also comes on to explain that none of the Strangler women knew each other nor saw each other. Natalie and Monk get in a marked patrol car to race to the new crime scene. When they arrive, most of the people viewing the crime scene are paying attention to the car that crashed into a storefront around the corner. A tall figure walks towards them, whom Natalie identifies as Mad Jack Wyatt. Monk points out that Wyatt shot out two of the tires on the crashed car, causing it to fly into the storefront and catch fire. Wyatt recognized the driver as Trinidad Lopez, a suspect in a string of ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
holdups.
Wyatt briefs them on the victim in the street. The man's name is John Yamada, age 44, and he is an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. While jaywalking
Jaywalking
Jaywalking is an informal term commonly used in North America to refer to illegal or reckless pedestrian crossing of a roadway. Examples include a pedestrian crossing between intersections without yielding to drivers and starting to cross a crosswalk at a signalized intersection without waiting...
to the market, he was struck by a car and killed. But Monk realizes that this is a premeditated murder and not a hit-and-run when he notices skid marks that indicate the driver to have double parked. Monk points to the dirt around the patrol car that he and Natalie arrived at the scene in, and indicates that it came from a front and a rear point on the car. This means that the dirt came off when the car was in idle. The driver was waiting for Yamada to set foot in the intersection before s/he ran him down. Then Natalie receives another call from Officer Curtis about another murder, causing her to say the city is becoming more unsafe by the minute.
Diane Truby
On Russian Hill, waitress Diane Truby was walking down the street after getting off the busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
when she tumbled in front of the bus. The driver couldn't stop in time and his bus dragged her body down the hill. An alley intersects the street halfway down the hill, and this is where Monk and Natalie meet with Sparrow and Porter. Monk realizes that this is another premeditated murder, and indicates that the kiler sat on the vegetable crate Porter is sitting on and waited for Diane Truby to pass the alley. Then the killer pushed her in front of the bus, and was never seen. He knows that the killer sat on the crate
Crate
A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport large, heavy or awkward items. A crate has a self-supporting structure, with or without sheathing. For a wooden container to be a crate, all six of its sides must be put in place to result in the rated strength...
as from there, no one can see you on the street. The killer used the reflection of the mirror utilized by the homeowner so that he could watch for traffic on the street as he backed his car out. Of course, Porter has forgotten who Monk is, and Natalie has to get him back to his senses.
That night, Natalie is proud of Monk for having his badge back and keeping the SFPD running efficiently even with the number of officers "suffering" from the Blue Flu. Monk laments that these are much simpler murders, ones Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher solve every day. Afterwards, they take Julie for a short ride in the patrol car, and also "imprison" Julie in the holding cell at the police station. When they arrive, Curtis says that Natalie's Jeep is out in the impound lot, and also informs her that Officer Krupp would appreciate the return of his patrol car. Up in the Homicide Division, Julie is able to identify the brands of each of the shoes the Golden Gate Strangler victims were wearing. She also says that these are obsolete styles, sold out of trucks at freeway off-ramps.
Convenience Store Robbery
Curtis then informs Monk that there's been a robberyRobbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
at a convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
and the clerk has been killed. Ramin Touzie is the victim's name. Several black-dressed men had him empty the cash register and then they shot him and ran out back. Monk exposes Lorna Karsch, the night clerk, as the murderer, although when he is telling Karsch that she smells like a toilet bowl, Riglin doesn't appreciate the insult.
The next morning, Monk instructs his squad and sidekicks that they are going to be reorganizing the squad room accordingly to his liking. Chow informs Monk and Natalie that she has found one person who may have a motive for killing Allegra Doucet. She says that Max Collins, who sells expensive pieces of artwork, lost millions of dollars in bad investments he made based on Allegra's advice. Porter also informs them that he did some digging and found that a customer at the restaurant where Diane Truby worked was stalking her, and this stalker disappeared shortly after her death. Natalie then takes Monk into Captain Stottlemeyer's office, and privately explains that she is concerned that Monk will be working himself to death solving all of these homicides. Later, Monk and Natalie have a secret rendezvous with Stottlemeyer. The Captain is distressed with the fact that Monk has taken over his position. He also states that the two important things in his life were his job and his wife.
Scott Eggers
Stottlemeyer uses Disher as an example, stating that Disher is a people person, likeable, non-threatening, and courteous. People tell him things that they wouldn't tell anyone else, which is his gift. He also states that Frank Porter, Cindy Chow and Mad Jack Wyatt have gifts that are the flipside of their curses, and tells Monk to save himself for what he does best and leave the rest of the work to the other three. Heading downtown, Monk calls up Porter for information about John Yamada's ex-wife's stolen car and has Chow check up on Diane Truby's stalker. Monk and Natalie meanwhile go to Union Square to talk to Max Collins, Allegra Doucet's client.Collins states that he had heard about Allegra for quite a while, and then, after he lost $3 million, he had a private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
do some digging, and found that the companies Collins invested in were paying her to steer wealthy clients her way. He tells Monk and Natalie that on the night Allegra was murdered, he was visiting his mother, just around the corner, so he has an 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...
that places him in the neighborhood at the time. To Monk, Collins has means, motive
Motive (law)
A motive, in law, especially criminal law, is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive, in itself, is not an element of any given crime; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at...
, and opportunity to kill Allegra. Then Officer Curtis calls Natalie to inform them that there is one less tax-paying citizen out there. On the way over to the new murder, Natalie happens to drive over the speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
and gets pulled over and issued a ticket.
At this crime scene, Scott Eggers has been found dead in the alley
Alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting...
behind his house on Tenth Avenue. Monk sees that the killer bludgeoned
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
Eggers while he was on the way to his car, grabbed a grocery bag from the trash, and suffocated him. Eggers was discovered by his lover, Hank Criswell. Criswell tells them to go arrest Merle Smetter, whom Eggers and Criswell ratted out to the city after catching him installing a 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....
and redwood deck on his roof without a permit. Monk is not convinced that Smetter could have killed Eggers, when he and Natalie spot Officer Milner there. Milner has been trying to work in overtime
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...
to support his family, especially when the number of "sick" officers has those who remain stretched far and wide across San Francisco. Milner asks if any progress has been made on the Golden Gate Strangler case. Monk states that there has been none.
The Golden Gate Strangler is discovered
Monk and Natalie return to police headquarters to find the squad room rearranged to Monk's rules of order. Chow states that Diane Truby's stalker has bolted. As Monk is about to ask Officer Curtis to find another pencil holder, Bertrum Gruber walks into the station to say he has found the Golden Gate Strangler. Bertrum says he was at the community garden in McKinley Park watering his strawberries when he saw a man clutching a shoe to his chest like it was made of goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. The man then got into his 1999 Ford Taurus
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near-continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
, which had a broken left rear taillight and a dent on the bumper. Bertrum continues, saying that the last part of the license plate number was M567, like his mother's birthday (May 5, 1967). Monk has Officer Curtis search for any Ford Tauruses with M567 as the last four digits of the license plate number. Monk believes, however, that Bertrum is being partially dishonest about his facts, since it's not a proper time to grow strawberries.
Curtis enters M567 into the computer. There is a hit, which matches a 1999 Ford Taurus with M567 as the last part of the license plate number to a man named Charlie Herrin. Monk, Natalie, Wyatt, and Arnie organize a SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team to raid Herrin's apartment. After Herrin briefly takes Monk hostage and Wyatt discusses planning on shooting him, Herrin gives himself up. Forensic teams find evidence that confirms Charlie Herrin to be the Golden Gate Strangler. Monk believes that Herrin only recently escalated to murder and has been taking peoples' left shoes for some time. Monk explains to Natalie that he believes Bertrum Gruber to be even more dishonest than before, saying that Bertrum remembered the M567 in Herrin's license plate because it reminded him of his mother's birthday. Now if she was born on May 5, 1967, it means she would have been ten years old when Bertrum was born.
Officer Down
Bertrum Gruber receives the $250,000 reward for tipping the police in the right direction. After the press conference, Natalie finds that her car's tires have been slashed. After having the tires replaced, she and Monk return to his apartment and find Stottlemeyer there. The Captain advises Monk to keep his profile as low as possible and not to align himself with the commissioner or with the mayor. Leaving Monk, Natalie gets pulled over as her trunk is open. The next morning, Monk and Natalie find Porter to have replaced the Charlie Herrin cases with the other four open murder cases (Allegra Doucet, John Yamada, Diane Truby and Scott Eggers). Natalie finds Jasper telling Sparrow that Herrin was interested in the way the shoes smelled, and not the shoes themselves. They all go over the details one more time, and realize that they have unknowingly been investigating a serial killerSerial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Except for Allegra Doucet, all of the murder victims are 44 years old, and all of them were born on the exact same date: February 20, 1962. Monk doesn't know who killed Allegra Doucet or why, but he knows why the other three people were killed, and states that they need to take immediate action.
Monk and Natalie return to Allegra's house with Chow and Jasper. They find that Allegra was killed while she was with a client who was in the bathroom. The killer used the astronomical chart in an attempt to track down the witness. Chow offers to analyze the astronomical chart, as Officer Curtis calls Natalie to report a new homicide. But what she hears next is shocking: the murder victim is Officer Kent Milner.
At the abandoned warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
where Milner was found next to his cruiser, Monk and Natalie find Stottlemeyer and Disher there. Many of the "sick" detectives have returned, if only to investigate the murder of one of their own. The fact that Milner never unholstered his gun indicates he wasn't expecting trouble. Monk believes that Milner either saw something suspicious and came to check it out, or was meeting with a secret informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
. Disher mentions having taken the time to sign up for a class taught by Ian Ludlow, the Tolstoy of the Mean Streets. Monk looks at several brochure
Brochure
A brochure is a type of leaflet. Brochures are most commonly found at places that tourists frequently visit, such as museums, major shops, and tourist information. Brochure racks or stands may suggest visits to amusement parks and other points of interest...
s in Milner's car, and sees that the rookie officer was looking at new homes in Marin County and at Hawaii travel brochures, like he had money to spend. This is ironic, considering that Kent Milner was at the lowest paying rank in the department.
Solving Allegra's murder
Sparrow has observed the astronomical chart from Allegra Doucet's house, and states that the person of interest is charming and creative, but also greedy, secretive and really full of himself, since MercuryMercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
is in Aquarius and Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
is in Pisces. Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
is in Leo
Leo (astrology)
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Leo. In astrology, Leo is considered to be a "masculine", positive sign. It is also considered a fire sign and is one of four fixed signs ruled by the Sun.Individuals born when the Sun is in this sign are...
. so this client likes his freedom and hasn't had much self-discipline. The fact that Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
is in Scorpio
Scorpio (astrology)
|Infobox align="right" style="border:3px solid white;"||style="text-align: center;"|Scorpio is the eighth astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 210th and 239th degree of celestial longitude. Generally, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between 24 October and...
means that he is short-tempered and violent. Monk has solved the case, and knows who killed the astrologer.
Here's What Happened
As Max Collins is leaving Madam Frost's place in his Maserati QuattroporteMaserati Quattroporte
The Maserati Quattroporte is a luxury four-door saloon made by Maserati in Italy. The name translated from Italian literally means "four doors". There have been five generations of the car, each separated by a period of roughly five years....
, Monk and Natalie arrive. Monk explains that they have come to arrest Madam Frost for the murders of Allegra Doucet, John Yamada, Diane Truby and Scott Eggers. The fact that Collins is underestimating Frost is (according to Monk) the fatal mistake Allegra made. After Monk reveals that Allegra was driving clients away from Madam Frost and putting her neighbor out of business, he gives a sumnation.
Allegra Doucet was with a client on Friday night, when the client excused himself to go to the bathroom. Madam Frost then showed up on some friendly pretense, but Allegra didn't know what was happening until it was too late. Frost stabbed her several times, enough times that Allegra was dead before her body even hit the floor. Then the toilet flushed and Madam Frost realized that there was another person in the house. By the time she got to the bathroom, the client had escaped out the window. This client had seen too much, and Frost needed to silence him or her. She used the astronomical chart to find people in San Francisco born on February 20, 1962, and used this chart to track the witness down. Frost was in a hurry to kill the witness before he could tell the police. All three of the other murders were improvised, and like Allegra, these victims were killed from behind or by surprise.
When Monk and Natalie came to talk to Frost on Saturday morning, she was walking up to her house. She had had to park the car she had just used to kill John Yamada on a side street because the police were blocking her driveway. When she killed Diane Truby, she had bought the vegetable crate so she had something to sit on while waiting for her victim to stroll by. Frost also waited in an alleyway for Scott Eggers. She bludgeoned him, then suffocated him with a bag taken out of the trash. Madam Frost confesses to the murders, and is arrested.
On Tuesday, Dr. Kroger congratulates Adrian for having been reinstated to the force at last. Kroger explains to Natalie how no one asked him about Porter, Chow or Wyatt, whom he had referred to the department earlier. Dr. Kroger states that under normal circumstances they wouldn't be back at the department. Returning to the squad room, Wyatt explains that Porter put together a list of witnesses and they found their murder witness: Tono Busok, who didn't come to the police out of fear that his bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
operation would be discovered.
Kent Milner
Stottlemeyer and the "sick" detectives have found nothing about Kent Milner's death. His arrest sheet shows that he mostly made minor arrests. Monk explains how Bertrum Gruber wasn't being entirely honest about his facts when he gave his tip to the police, and reveals that Bertrum is the person who killed Officer Milner. Monk shows that Milner arrested Bertrum eight months earlier for making an illegal drug buy in Potrero Hill, Milner's jurisdiction. There's no coincidence about how one of Charlie Herrin's victims was disposed of here. Herrin is indeed the Strangler, Monk says, as he reveals that Bertrum Gruber didn't identify Charlie Herrin as the Golden Gate Strangler. Rather, it was Kent Milner who did. But as Milner was a police officer and hence a city employee, he couldn't collect the reward, so he recruited Bertrum to find it on the grounds they would split the money. But Bertrum wanted all of the money, so he killed Milner.Monk and Natalie go to the jail to question Charlie Herrin. Herrin's left shoe craze is still present, and he takes Natalie's shoe. Monk shows a picture of Officer Milner, and Herrin remembers Milner as the officer who pulled him over for speeding on Saturday. Herrin accidentally had run a red light and clipped another car in the intersection, but they both walked away like nothing happened. He dented his bumper and broke one of his rear taillights. Then Herrin got pulled over for doing 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Herrin was still clutching one of the murder victims' shoes, and he threw it in the back seat just before Officer Milner stepped up to the car. Milner issued Herrin a ticket, but he also saw the shoes and realized that he had just accidentally found the Golden Gate Strangler.
After Natalie gets some new shoes to replace the ones Herrin took from her, she calls Bertrum Gruber asking him to meet them at the pier. At the pier, Bertrum gives them the statement he gave to them earlier. Monk reveals that Herrin didn't break his taillight or dent his bumper until after he left the park, and that Bertrum's mother can't have been born on May 5, 1967. All of the statements Bertrum was giving were in fact the very information that Officer Kent Milner gave him when he agreed to the scheme of taking half of the reward. Stottlemeyer explains that they've got a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
and are going to be testing his clothes for gunshot residue
Gunshot residue
Gunshot residue is principally composed of burnt and unburnt particles from the explosive primer, the propellant, as well as components from the bullet, the cartridge case and the firearm used...
that will match the gun that killed Milner.
Bertrum puts a gun to Monk's head, and threatens to shoot, but when Monk vomits on the dock, Bertrum is distracted long enough that he is tackled to the ground and arrested. Mayor Smitrovich is humiliated that he rewarded a cop killer, and he caves in to all of the police union's demands in exchange for a cover up in the press, making it seem like he knew Bertrum was guilty all along and was cooperating with the police in a sting.
Monk feels glad to have been reinstated, when Stottlemeyer tells Monk that his reinstatement is now void. Natalie is furious, but Stottlemeyer says he has no wish of extending the mayor's offer. Natalie tells the other detectives' assistants to keep in touch with each other from time to time. After the speeding ticket from earlier, Monk is able to convince Natalie to go to traffic school.
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 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 psychiatristPsychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
, 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...
Original characters
- Officer Susan Curtis - A female officer in charge of clerical duties in the Homicide division.
- "Mad" Jack Wyatt - A veteran detective who was kicked off of the force after the city lost several lawsuits from his violent and unconventional methods.
- Cynthia "Cindy" Chow - A paranoid schizophrenic who believes that everything is a conspiracy theory. Spent most of her time on the force undercover.
- Frank Porter - A senile veteran detective. Spent 45 years on the force, 20 in Homicide.
- Sparrow - Frank Porter's granddaughter.
- Arnie - Mad Jack Wyatt's anger management counselor.
- Jasper Perry - Cindy Chow's psychologist.
- Officer Kent Milner - a rookie cop working overtime during the Blue Flu.
- Bertrum Gruber - the person who identifies the Golden Gate Strangler.
- Charlie Herrin - the Golden Gate Strangler.
- Allegra Doucet - murder victim #1 and astrologerAstrologerAn astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
. Was stabbed to death in her own house. - John Yamada - murder victim #2. Was run down by a car while crossing the street.
- Diane Truby - murder victim #3 and waitress. Was pushed off the sidewalk and into the path of a bus.
- Scott Eggers - murder victim #4. Was bludgeoned and then suffocated in an alley while on the way to his car.
- Max Collins - A client who lost millions of dollars to Allegra Doucet's practices.
- Madam Frost - Allegra Doucet's neighbor and astrology rival
Episode adaption
"Mr. Monk and the Badge" is the 14th episode of season 8Monk (season 8)
The eighth and final season of Monk originally aired in the United States on USA Network from August 7 to December 4, 2009. It consisted of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised their roles as the main characters. A DVD of the season was...
, and was based on Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, in much the same way that the season 5
Monk (season 5)
The fifth season of Monk originally aired in the United States on USA Network from July 7, 2006 to March 2, 2007. It consisted of 16 episodes. Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford reprised their roles as the main characters. A DVD of the season was released on June...
episode "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing" was based on 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:...
.
Plot synopsis
Captain StottlemeyerLeland 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...
calls 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...
to his office for some important news. Monk assumes the worst, but the news is actually positive. After twelve years, Monk's wish of being reinstated to the police force has been fulfilled.
Monk is nervous and excited for his first day back. As Natalie
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...
sends Monk off to work, she reveals that she has an interview for a glamorous job with a concert promoter. As Monk and Natalie say goodbye, Monk laments that this could be the end of their partnership.
At police headquarters, Monk receives a warm welcome from his fellow officers. Stottlemeyer has even arranged for Monk to sit at the same desk he used years before. Monk is disappointed to learn, hoewever, that he’s been relegated to desk duty in the case of the Pick Axe
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
Killer, the department’s hottest case. Later that day, Officer Russell DiMarco, a colleague of Monk's, bursts in to the office announcing that the Pick Axe Killer has been arrested. A window washer named Manny Alvarez saw someone matching the killer’s description and tipped off the police. It’s great news, but Monk is a little disappointed that the case was solved without his help.
A week later, Natalie is enjoying her exciting new job in the music business, and Monk has left his desk job to begin working with a new partner, Detective Doyle. Monk has suspicions about Manny Alvarez’s story, so he takes a break from his work with Doyle to investigate the location where Manny claimed that he had "spotted" the Pick Axe Killer. Monk quickly establishes that it would have been impossible for Manny to see the killer from that vantage point. Although Monk shares this information with his superiors, no one wants to entertain any theories that might interfere with the successful closure of a highly-publicized case, especially since the man who was arrested on Manny Alvarez's tip confessed to being the Pick Axe Killer.
That night, Officer DiMarco is on his way home and meets with a mysterious informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
. After DiMarco receives his payoff, the informant shoots him dead.
The police believe that Russell DiMarco saw something going down on his way home, tried to intervene, and was killed. But Monk suspects that DiMarco may have been murdered while receiving some kind of illegal payoff
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
. Monk’s theory makes him a pariah, as cops are supposed to protect the reputations of their brethren. If Monk has any hope of surviving in his new job, he needs to back up his accusations against Officer DiMarco. When Monk comes across Officer DiMarco’s ticket book, he finds the evidence he needs to prove his theory and arrest Manny Alvarez for the murder.
Here's What Happened
Monk finds Manny standing on a scaffold, preparing to work on a window-washing job. Monk explains what happened. Manny didn’t spot the Pick Axe Killer - Officer DiMarco did. Monk figured this out when he found DiMarco’s ticket book and noticed that he had written but never submitted a parking ticket for the killer's car. DiMarco had found the Pick Axe Killer, but as a police officer, he couldn’t collect the reward. He wanted the reward, and recruited an old friend of his, Manny Alvarez, to identify the killer. Manny made up a story, and took credit for the tip. They agreed to split the reward money later, but Manny got greedy and decided to kill DiMarco instead.Monk has solved the case, but now he’s got a major problem. Manny has pulled a gun and ordered Monk onto the scaffold. Manny raises the scaffold and tries to push Monk off. Monk struggles with Manny as his fellow police officers watch from below. Monk wins the struggle and lowers the scaffold back to street level, where his coworkers are waiting. It’s clear that Monk was right all along, and Manny is taken into custody.
Despite having solved a murder during his short time back with the police, Monk decides to relinquish his badge. Natalie, who’s missed the excitement of working with Monk, agrees to return to her job as his assistant. Monk is disappointed that his return to the force didn’t last, but now he knows that he doesn’t need a badge to be happy. He can go forward to find contentment in his life with Natalie by his side, solving crimes on his own, unique terms.
Similarities and differences
"Mr. Monk and the Badge" was based upon the Golden Gate Strangler and Officer Kent Milner plot in Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu. Most of the characters from the novel appear in the episode with new names: Officer Milner becomes Officer DiMarco, Bertrum Gruber becomes Manny Alvarez, and the Golden Gate Strangler becomes the Pick Axe Killer. There are some differences, however:- In Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, although Monk is reinstated, Natalie continues to work for him. In the episode, she works for a concert promoter instead.
- Monk's three colleagues and their assistants in the novel do not appear in the episode.
- Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu has Monk being reinstated and immediately promoted to acting homicide captain. "Mr. Monk and the Badge" has Monk gradually being moved up from desk duty to detective on the force.
- Monk goes along on the raid and arrest of Charlie Herrin, the Golden Gate Strangler. In the episode, Monk doesn't work on the Pick Axe Killer case because he is on desk duty.