I’m a fan of the TV-series Monk and I was delighted and then a bit apprehensive when I found out that there where books about him, as well. But I shouldn’t have worried; Goldberg writes for the show and it shows. The book has a similar tone as the show and the characters feel the same, too.

Monk’s house is being fumigated and he’s looking for an alternative place to live meanwhile. After checking out various hotel rooms with Monk, Natalie agrees to have Monk stay at her and her daughter’s house. Monk even says that Natalie’s house is a home and he would much rather stay there than in a hotel.

Soon they realize that Natalie’s daughter Julie is distressed because the local firehouse’s dog has been brutally killed with an ax blow to the head. Monk agrees to investigate. Nobody knows who killed him or why because everyone seemed to have loved the friendly Dalmatian. Well, almost everyone: on the same street lives Gregorio Dumas who has a multiple prize-winning show dog, a female. Sparky, the firehouse mascot, had gotten to Dumas’ yard and had covered her. She’s now expecting mongrel puppies and Dumas claims that her show career is over. But is it enough evidence to say that Dumas killed Sparky?

Monk visits the site where the firefighters where when the dog was killed and finds out casually that the old lady who lived in the burned down house was murdered. A rich and respected real estate developer Lucas Breen has a building project planned for the neighborhood and has offered quite a large sums for the current house owners. The only one who didn’t want to take the money and move was the old lady who was murdered. So, she wasn’t well liked by just about anyone. Monk dives in to investigate this murder, too. Meanwhile, he tries to straighten out Natalie’s house, and sparks fly between Natalie and the handsome firefighter Joe.

The book is written in first person, from the point-of-view of Monk’s assistant Natalie in quite Sherlock Holmesian way. The cast of characters included Captain Stottlemeyer and his partner Randy Disher, as well, and they all feel much the same as in the series. There are quite a few funny little Monk moments in the book, too, starting from the way he inspects the hotel rooms right down to the surprising last pages.

Unfortunately, the plot seems a bit stretched at times. Monk finds out the culprits quickly and then it’s a matter of trying to prove their guilt. On the other hand, that’s Monk for you. If he had taken longer, he wouldn’t have felt the same.