Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants

I loved “Monk”, the television series. I TV binged on all 8 seasons. When it was all over and I was going through withdrawal pains, I discovered the 19 books based upon the television series, of which 15 were written by Lee Goldberg and 4 by Hy Conrad. Both authors had been involved in the writing of the television episodes. This is book 4 in the series, and I recommend reading them in date order.Those familiar with Monk know that he is a quirky, unique, and highly intelligent investigator, a former police detective, who has been haunted by the murder of his wife, Trudy. He is also suffers from an obsessive compulsive disorder. So, he is definitely an intriguing character. I am happy to say that the books captures his essence. The stories unfold from the perspective of Monk’s assistant, Natalie Teeger.Here, Monk investigates the murder of a woman in smog filled Los Angeles, of which his first assistant’s husband stands accused. Yes, Sharona is back, and Natalie, his second assistant, is not loving her return. There is also another murder closer to home in San Francisco that requires Monk’s attention. Of course, Monk solves the mystery surrounding both, but not without the use of a lot of wipes.This is a fun, humorous, easy-breezy little mystery. It is not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, nor does it pretend to be such, but enjoyable, nonetheless, if one is a hard core Monk fan, as I am. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books.

Mr. Monk is caught in an eternal tussle with the cosmic universe. He rails and nags and tries his durndest to shape order out of disorder. It's an ever-losing battle. Entropy wins out always. Maybe entropy even exists just to thumb its nose at Adrian Monk.Mr. Monk is the indispensable consultant to the San Francisco Police Department. How is he so successful at his job? The secret is he approaches his homicide cases the same way he cleans a room - and Mr. Monk lives to clean rooms. And what's the first step to cleaning a room? Well, first, you observe what's out of place, what doesn't belong. This is how Mr. Monk sees things no one else sees.In MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS, Mr. Monk's nemesis, good ol' entropy, is havin' a fine ol' chortle. You wouldn't think our defective detective would be a fella that two women would fight tooth and claw over for. Yet it's so. His former assistant, Sharona Fleming, is back in the City by the Bay. With her shady husband in Los Angeles arrested for murder, Sharona figures she can pick up where she'd left things off with Mr. Monk, get her old job back, never mind that they parted ways with Sharona not even having said goodbye. Understandably, Mr. Monk's current assistant, Natalie Teeger, isn't down with Sharona's plan. She is, in fact, pretty P.O.'d at Sharona and feeling insecure and defensive. There's still a special place in Mr. Monk's heart for Sharona, even if it's a jerk move to hire her as co-assistant with Natalie.This is one instance in which the whodunit elements aren't as absorbing as the edgy dynamic among Natalie and Sharona and the oblivious Mr. Monk. It's also an instance where continuity gets kicked to the curb. MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS is Lee Goldberg's fourth book in his Monk series, published in 2007, somewhen roughly during the television show's sixth season. Except, the TV show doesn't have Natalie meeting Sharona until its eight season in the episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona." So, is the book canon? Shrug with me.So follow Natalie's logic. She thinks if her boss can prove that Sharona's husband was framed of the murder charge, then Sharona will go away again to be with her hubby, leaving Natalie the sole assistant and minder to Mr. Monk whom she's come to think of as family. Until then, we're treated to pages of catty bickerville between two strong-minded women.It's not only Sharona's husband's murder charge that Mr. Monk investigates. He gets embroiled in another death concerning a man who succumbed to alligator bites, with Mr. Monk promptly concluding that it was a case of homicide.It was undeniably Tony Shalhoub's performace that lent Adrian Monk so much humanity. Shalhoub made him so sympathetic despite his irksome OCD tics. Good news is Lee Goldberg - who once wrote for the show - captures what makes Monk such a, um, not warm but still appealing personality. As always, he does a terrific job of bringing out the humor in Monk's debilitating compulsions. The scene of Monk at the church is hilarious (and borderline sacrilegious), as well as the image of Monk wandering around Los Angeles in a gas mask and Monk at the orthodontist and declaring that the doctor is doing "God's work" by straightening out them crooked teeth.It's rare that a case baffles Monk. It's even more rare when two cases baffle Monk simultaneously. This book finds him in even more of a morose (read: whiny) temperament.- Natalie: "You'll see the thing that isn't right. I know you will."- Mr. Monk: "How can you be so sure?"- Natalie: "Because you're Adrian Monk, and I have faith in you."- Mr. Monk: "I wish you didn't."- Natalie: "You have to have faith in something."- Mr. Monk: "I do. But I don't think Formula 409 is going to solve my problems."The show and Goldberg's books have always had this playful, wink-of-the-eye vibe to 'em. This book dives even more into meta territory, specifically as regards to a bit of dialogue between Natalie and Sharona:- Sharona: "I think I know why he hired you."- Natalie: "You mean it wasn't my vivacious personality and irrepressible charm?"- Sharona: "You're me."- Natalie: "You just got done telling me all the ways that I'm not you."- Sharona: "But you are in the ways that count. You're a single mother with a twelve-year-old kid. So was I. He wasn't looking for a new assistant with nursing or even secretarial skills. He was looking for a new actress to play the same part."One nitpick is that book Sharona comes off as more of a calculating shrew than did TV show Sharona. All credit to actress Bitty Schram, aggressive Joisey accent and in-yo-face moxie and all, for making Sharona relatable. In the book, I didn't care all that much for her.Lastly, it's cool that we get to catch up with Natalie's young daughter Julie who herself snags a minor side-plot that finds her diving into cast-vertising entrepreneurship. So, if you're into our girl Julie flashing her burgeoning business acumen and saying stuff like "The cast-vertising is a hit. The sales have triggered the escalator clause, so I'm going to get the fifty-dollar rate next week," then have a go at this book. Also, don't fret, Mr. Monk eventually does solve the two cases.

Mr. Monk and the two assistants, is a very good story,even though it contradicts the episode in the last season of the TV show. In it Sharona reappears quite accidentally when Natalie' s daughter breaks her arm in a soccer game and has to go to the emergency room at a hospital, where Sharona has a job as a nurse. The reactions of Monk and Natalie were more realistic than the reaction he had in the aforementioned show. Turns out Sharona's husband was accused of murder and convicted. Natalie convinces Monk and even Sharona to investigate it. The strange twist comes in who did it and why.

As always the amazingly talented Lee Goldberg delivers story telling perfection in this mystery adventure featuring the amazing Adrian Monk and his delightful assistant Natalie aka our narrator. Once again we are delivered all the makings of a perfect story by the super talented Mr. Goldberg from tons of laughs to absolute perfection when it comes to story line and ease of reading flow.Warning: This series of books is extremely addicting!!!😃

Lousy, sloppy writing. Ridiculous, almost impossible ending. If you have watched the wonderful tv show "Monk", you will be seriously disappointed in every aspect of this book. If you have not watched the tv show, stop whatever you are doing and watch it immediately. Excellent writing, combined with superb acting by Tony Shalhoub and others, will make it obvious how good the stories can be and how bad this book is - by comparison or by itself.

There's no other character like Monk! I loved the TV series, and was thrilled when Lee Goldberg's first book involving Monk was published. (I think it was Mr. Monk and the FIrehouse, or something like that.) It was, as L.G. points out in his intro, based on one of the episodes in the TV series, but is a whole different experience. I had to buy this one (an early entry) because I'd lost my first copy of it, also purchased from Amazon, and hadn't reread it in a long time. These books are wonderful, indeed.

I loved the series Monk and was saddened when they ended the eight season series. It was nice to be back in the world that is “the Monk!”Quirky and light-hearted, I also enjoyed the Audible voice accompanying version.

Good book nice to see Natalie's perspective on monk and his investigations. It shows how much she's cares for monk .

First of all I am a very big Mr Monk fan, I have seen all the series at least twice, and bought some of the seasons, so it pains me to say this dragged a little.I think it just a little longer than it needed to be and the Mr Monk's OCD was so over exaggerated. On screen and in the previous novel, Mr Monk goes to Hawaii, it seemed less annoying but some of the quirks described here were so extreme I just felt like it was just too much.Also Adrian's ability to solve crime was a little over done. Being able to literally look at case details and know what happened also stretched belief a bit too far.However in saying all of that it is always a joy being in the company of my favourite characters and with Sharona's return it was particularly fun. Anyone who wants to read a light who dunnit will enjoy this and fans of the detective will just enjoy being in his world for awhile. I loved the descriptions of San Francisco's neighbourhoods and some of the genuinely laugh out load conversations, Disher is always funny. Overall very enjoyable murder mystery.

These books are just fabulous and I love them - this one was just as great. Witty, wise and very human. Can't wait for the next one.

Mr Monk has assistant troubles in book four in this tremendous series - character driven, well written, thoroughly entertaining and entirely addictive. An all round, reliably great read - as usual.

I love the series Monk and was lent another of the Monk series whilst on holiday and decided to purchase one when I returned home. The stories are well written and the characters are very recognisable as those we see on the big screen. It's great to have both of Monk's devoted assistants in the same story line too! A must for Monk fans!

the book was well packed and exactly as described