Mr. Monk in Trouble

You've just got to love a guy who is so obsessive about cleanliness that he hands out wet wipes as Halloween treats. Yep, Monk is back in Lee Goldberg's new novel, Mr. Monk in Trouble. This book is double the fun as it follows the life of gold rush era assayer, Artemis Monk as well as the modern day chaos brewing in the Gold Rush town of Trouble where Monk and his assistant Natalie find themselves investigating a murder and a decades old train robbery. Goldberg has a knack for cooking up ingenious plots and this book is no exception. The book within a book idea adds a new element of fun to the novel which is already packed with laughs. Who wouldn't enjoy the mental gyrations of a man who believes that many of the world's problems could be solved by outlawing spitting? "You get away with that and, before you know it, you're letting go of your sphincters willy -nilly, robbing trains and killing old ladies." His assistant Natalie is just the right compliment, strong and practical, but with her own sense of humor, noted here when she's sizing up the Trouble Police Chief. "I tried not to stare but couldn't help noticing that he had a nice body and just enough chest hair to suggest a healthy masculinity but not so much that I wanted to offer him a banana." This book is a combination of satisfying mystery, hilarity and a shade of poignancy which is the flip side of Monk's OCD. The reader is made aware every so often, that Monk's gifts do not come without a price and at the core he is a lonely, frightened soul. Because he has Natalie, we can enjoy the fact that he cannot cut a pizza unless he's brought along his string, compass, T square and level. Goldberg's next book is Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out where Monk is fired from his consulting job with SFPD. Natalie better get the T square ready and stock up on wet wipes because wherever Monk is, there's plenty of obsessively funny mystery to follow.

I have been happily reading Monk books since they first started to be published. In a word? AWESOME! The author is WONDERFUL! It's just like reading a Monk episode. The dialogue? Laugh-out-loud funny! Buy this series of books. I just pre-ordered the next one coming out in July 2010. Can't wait!

After reading Mr. Monk in Trouble, the newest Lee Goldberg mystery featuring television's smartest and funniest detective, I had to admit that I hoped it would never end. But like the saying goes all good things must come to an end, and when I flipped the final page, I felt satisfied that there had to be or should be another great adventure in store for Mr. Monk and Natalie. I only say that because apparently the tv show is now finished and I hope that Mr. Goldberg did not hear about that because I really enjoy his books based on the show and I hope he continues writing new adventures for Natalie and Monk. In this adventure Monk is asked to investigate a murder in a small western mining town where a former police officer was murdered. After encounters with kamikaze butterflies and rogue donkeys, Natalie and Monk discover that there is something peculiar in the little town of Trouble, CA. The sheriff catches Natalie's eye and the whole town seems to really connect with a certain detective with a fondness for cleanliness and order that it seems to much of a coincidence with another citizen named Monk, over 150 years ago. Long story short, if you like mysteries and you like humor, you have to read this book plus the other books in this series. Lee Goldberg transfers you into the lives of the world's greatest detective and his assistant better then the television show could itself. Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down.

When Manny Feikema, a retired SFPD cop is murdered, Captain Stottlemeyer personally asks Monk to look into the case. Manny had moved to the small town of Trouble. While it had boomed during the gold rush, it was now mainly a tourist stop. Manny was working as a night guard for the Gold Rush Museum, and that's where he was killed. Monk has hardly arrived before he learns of an unsolved gold robbery from 50 years ago. He's distracted by his case. Natalie has her own distraction. She's found the journal of Abigail Guthrie, assistant to a Mr. Artemis Monk. This Mr. Monk was the town assessor and detective during the height of the gold rush. And he behaves just like the modern Mr. Monk. Could he be an ancestor? And will the current Mr. Monk find the killer? Or will he be too distracted by looking for the gold? When I heard how this book was going to flash back to the 1850's, I was a little worried about how it would work. I shouldn't have been. Those flashbacks fit into the story seamlessly and added a whole new level of humor to the events. As always, the characters are sharp and the humor wonderful. I laughed out loud several times and chuckles many others. Yet there were some more tender character moments that really made me look at them in a new light. About the only draw back is the plot. I figured the big picture out a while before Monk did (or at least I think it was before Monk did.) Of course, that's a failing with the TV series as well. But the book still kept me entertained as I waited to see if I was right or not. And I did need Monk to fill in many of the details for me. Continuity wise, this book is set before the start of season eight. There are a couple references that are outdated as a result, but that is only worth noting in passing. Those like me mourning the loss of this great series can rejoice. These books are just as wonderful as the show and will keep the characters alive for some time to come.

He has an intensive form of OCD and has more phobias than can be found in a medical text, but give Mr. Adrian Monk a homicide to solve and he will do it regardless of difficulty mostly caused by his disorders. His friend Captain Stottlemeyer of the San Francisco Police department asks Mr. Monk to come to his office where he informs him that retired cop Manny Feikeman was murdered at the Gold Rush Museum in Trouble, California. He asks Monk to solve the case. Since his house is being renovated, Mr. Monk agrees to go to the mining town with his assistant and friend Natalie. While in town he finds out about a cold case he decides to solve in his spare time. The famous train The Golden Rail Express was robbed of its gold on its last run in 1962, but what happened to the loot or the mastermind was never revealed and a third robber never found. With brilliant insight and a nod to a gold rush era equivalent with phobias and an assistant Abigail Guthrie keeping diaries of Artemis Monk, Adrian works the train robbery, the murder, and assorted other inquiries until he vanishes leaving an injured Natalie to investigate the case of the missing sleuthing employer. Nobody does novelizations of TV shows better than Lee Goldberg consistently does. His latest Mr. Monk tale is one of the best due to the intriguing tongue in cheek self mocking subplot involving Artemis who as the assayer who also worked cases in 1852; the local curator insists the two OCD Monks may be a century and a half apart but look like twins separated at birth. Fans will enjoy the stories of the two Mr. Monk's. Harriet Klausner