Adrian Monk thrives on order so when he has to leave his apartment for a few days when it is being fumigated, moving in with his assistant Nathalie possibly isn’t the wisest move. Thankfully, before he can tidy her house and throw out all of her cracked crockery (although he will do that) a distraction comes along in the form of a case from Natalie’s daughter, Julie. The dalmatian from the local firehouse, a favourite at Julie’s school, has been killed when the fire department were on a call. But who would murder a dog?

When Monk discovers indications that the fire itself was set to cover up a murder, he is convinced that the two killings are connected. But with no proof, he is going to have to dig through a lot of dirt to get his man…

Well, I’ve got COVID again – just a mild case, but it does limit me to easy reads, so I followed Kate’s advice and decided to revisit Mr Monk. The fact that Monk has also appeared on Netflix is a lovely medicinal bonus as well.

But as I’ve got COVID, my brain is like a rollercoaster crossed with a waltzer (sorry, just watched Mr Monk Goes To The Carnival) so this probably won’t be the most coherent review.

First of all, it’s a lovely book. Lee Goldberg worked on the series, so he knows the characters of Monk and Natalie (the narrator) inside out. This is the first book, and there are a couple of oddities – Monk here is incredibly obsessed with even numbers at every opportunity, and Natalie seems oddly obsessed with the size of women’s breasts (including her own) but I guess the second one would have been an internal monologue that wouldn’t have been heard on the show.

Also, to be honest, the book goes on a bit too long. There’s no big clever scheme here, just a “how can we catch the guy” story. There are some lovely character moments all the way through – the Marmaduke bit towards the end for example – and some genuinely funny bits without making fun of Monk’s issues.

All in all, it’s not the best that I’ve read in the series, mostly due the lack of complexity in the plot, but it’s exactly what I needed.