Monk

A former San Francisco police detective suffering from an extreme case of obsessive-compulsive disorder is called in to investigate an apparent assassination attempt of a mayoral candidate in which one of his bodyguards is killed.

When a woman drives off the road to her death, her body is mysteriously found the next morning by a psychic known for fudging the truth. Monk must discover if shes telling the truth this time, or else let a murderer go free.

A police officer and friend of Stottlemeyer is framed for a crime he didnt commit involving a ferris wheel. Meanwhile Monk tries to convince Stottlemeyer to get him reinstated.

When billionaire software magnate Sidney Teal is shot dead by ex-cop Archie Modine after allegedly turning mugger and another policeman mysteriously flees the scene, Stottlemeyer calls in Monk to investigate. Meanwhile, Sharona threatens to quit (this time for sure) when her paycheck bounces, and Stottlemeyer is hounded by reporters demanding information on "Fraidy Cop."

A woman is murdered during the San Francisco marathon and Monk suspects her married lover. But he was running the race, and his tracking chip says he never left.

Renowned philanthropist Henry Rutherford is killed when a minor earthquake rocks the city and sends a display case falling on top of him. But when Monk examines the scene, he finds clues that suggest foul play.

Monks first flight proves to be harder than he anticipated when he begins to suspect that a fellow passenger murdered his wife.

When a friends college-age son dies mysteriously in Mexico, the mayor sends Monk to investigate. Doubting the coroners report that the young man ""drowned"" in mid-air, Monk nevertheless has difficulty concentrating on the case. His eighteen suitcases carrying not only his clothes and ""back-up pillowcases"" but a years supply of food and his favorite brand of bottled water are stolen, leaving him with nothing he considers safe to eat or drink. Even worse, someone is trying to kill him, first by running him down with a pick-up truck and then by planting an explosive device behind a picture that he compulsively straightens every time he enters his room. Neither the witnesses nor the police, a south-of-the-border caricature of Stottlemeyer and Disher, offer any helpful leads--except for the mention of another unsolved murder, this one a mauling by a ""wild lion,"" the previous year. The fact that both victims were from San Francisco offers Monk the clue that he needs to solve the case and e

When a sarcastic and unpopular ringmaster is murdered by an acrobat wearing a face mask and a Ninja-like costume, Stottlemeyer suspects an animal trainer who not only has a motive but also owns the murder weapon. Monk, however, suspects the ringmasters ex-wife, a trapeze artist billed as The Queen of the Sky who is also a sharpshooter. Meanwhile, the Monk alienates Sharona by telling her that her fear of elephants is irrational and advising her to suck it up.

Sharonas actress sister, Gail, is suspected of murdering Hal Duncan, a fellow actor who dies onstage after Gail stabs him with what she insists is a retractable knife. When Sharonas mother (who thinks that Sharona is Monks partner, not his assistant) arrives for a visit and Sharona tells her the bad news, Monk and Sharona promise to ""do whatever it takes"" to discover what really happened. ""Whatever it takes"" turns out to be a bit more than Monk bargained for, however. After talking with the props manager, he begins to suspect that Jenna Ryan, Gails understudy, somehow killed Duncan and framed Gail, even though she was at a party on the other side of town when Duncan died. In order to talk with and observe Jenna, he endures a painful half hour at a speed dating service and even agrees to take the dead mans part in the play for two days until a new actor arrives. While Monk is on stage battling stage fright and fully aware that one of the knives on the stage is real, Sharona searche

Suspecting that her boss, Elliott DSouza, has been murdered by playboy/publisher Dexter Larsen after withdrawing his financial backing for Larsens Sapphire magazine, DSouzas secretary hires Monk to investigate. After enlisting the help of the initially reluctant Stottlemeyer and Disher and convincing them that DSouzas death was no accident despite his being alone in a room locked from the inside, Monk suddenly tries to withdraw from the case. The reason? Larsen has obtained and is threatening to publish nude photographs of Sharona, relics of her past as a struggling single mother in Atlantic City. When Sharona discovers the reason for Monks strange behavior, her first reaction is shame and fear, but Benjys response to her partial confession arms her with fierce determination to retrieve the photos and ""nail"" the murderer. Through the common bond of motherhood, she persuades the Sapphire Girl who had provided Dexters alibi to confess the truth. Meanwhile, Monk puts together De

When Monks paperboy is murdered on his doorstep by a guy looking to steal his newspapers, Monk turns to the pages of the newspaper for clues to solve the baffling crime.

After visiting the set of the hit TV series Crime Lab S.F. during a celebration of its one hundredth episode, Monk suspects the shows star, Brad Terry, of murdering his ex-wife so he wont have to share his huge new paychecks with her. But the actors alibi seems solid--he was with photographers when the victims screams were heard. To complicate matters, a fan confesses to the crime and Terry passes a lie detector test. After Terry invites the captain, Disher, and Sharona--but not Monk--to a party, Monk realizes that Terry reminds him of a popular boy who treated him the same way in sixth grade and begins to doubt his own instincts. But when Stottlemeyer invites Monk to hear Marcis confession, Monks doubts shift to Marcis story. When she tells him that Terrys ex-wife was once an actress who made a single B movie, Monk has the clue he needs to solve the crime.

On her way to film a documentary (apparently about a union dispute), Captain Stottlemeyers wife, Karen, is badly injured when her car is struck by a tow truck whose nonunion driver has been killed by a sniper. Distraught and furious, the captain blames a sleazy union official and his thug, a theory that seems to be confirmed when a second tow truck driver is murdered. But Lieutenant Disher, in charge of the crime scene investigation, discovers an odd detail that doesnt fit well with this scenario – both the assailant and the murdered truck driver were barefoot. Empathizing with the captains anguish, Monk offers to do whatever he can to help and of course ends up investigating the case. A small dog that follows Sharona from the crime scene leads her to the home of a handsome man who seems attracted to her, but Monk is more interested in the next-door neighbors off-kilter sundial. Meanwhile, the captain, fearing that his wife will die, becomes increasingly violent, taking out his anger...

Who would murder a death-row inmate forty-five minutes before his execution--and why? Thats the question Captain Stottlemeyer asks Monk--but Monks response is to ask why it matters. As Monk is hurrying to leave the prison, however, he gets a phone call from his old nemesis, Dale ""the Whale"" Biederbeck, that changes his plans. The police consider Dale a suspect in the inmates murder (the young man owed him twelve hundred dollars) and refuse to give him a window in his cell until his name is cleared, so Dale strikes a bargain with Monk--solve the case and hell provide information about Trudys murder. After interviewing the cook who prepared the dead inmates last meal, Monk notices that another cook never clocked out the evening before. The missing cook is found dead in a freezer with a wad of bills in his apron pocket--clearly the person who bribed him to poison the inmate was afraid he would talk and killed him, too. On his way out of the prison, he receives another phone call, th

In yet another case of murder in a room locked from the inside, a music producer is found dead with bullets in his back, head. and chest, clearly neither an accident nor a suicide. But this time theres a further twist: the dead mans pet chimpanzee, Darwin, is caught with the murder weapon in his hand. Not wanting to make a monkey of himself by falsely accusing a chimpanzee of murder, Stottlemeyer takes the chimp into the interrogation room, tempting the animal to fire what he thinks is an empty gun. Meanwhile, Disher realizes that hes inadvertently given the captain a loaded gun and panic ensues. When the gun goes off, endangering not only Stottlemeyer but Disher, Monk, and Sharona as well, Stottlemeyer is persuaded that the chimp is guilty and is ready to allow animal control to put him to sleep. Sharona, however, is convinced that Darwin is innocent. In desperation, Sharona resorts to breaking and entering to rescue Darwin, persuading the most unlikely person imaginable to take hi

Karen Stottlemeyer has decided to film a ""cinema verite"" documentary about her husbands work, but her timing couldnt be worse. The police commissioner shouts at the captain (on camera) for focusing on a routine arson fire in a wig factory and relying on Monk to solve a more newsworthy case involving a female victim whose body was cut up with a chainsaw. Monk is in even worse trouble. After presenting some useful leads involving the chainsaw victims age and nationality, he accidentally erases several years worth of crucial computer files, and the enraged commissioner revokes Monks private practice license despite Stottlemeyers protests that doing so will destroy him. With Sharona forced to return to her old job as a nurse, the devastated Monk sits in the hospital hallway all day waiting for her until, at her exasperrated insistence, he finds a job with a magazine as a fact checker. Meanwhile, having identified the victim based on Monks information, the captain and Disher zero i

Its Sharonas turn to be terrified. After several frightening and mysterious encounters with a blood-soaked man that no one else can see, she begins to doubt her own sanity, and Stottlemeyer advises Monk to give her time off to restore her nerves. Monk is left with an irritating substitute nurse whose philosophy is the opposite of Sharonas: everything from Monks requests for wipes to the obsessively systematic organization of his refrigerator has to go. Wanting Sharona back again, Monk goes to the garage where Sharona first saw the blood-soaked man and finds a clue--the silver tip from the toe of a cowboy boot. Meanwhile Sharona, who is attending a night class in creative writing, apparently forgets to turn in an assignment and seems to be misplacing objects. But when her writing instructors husband dies of a heart attack after eating tomato soup, Sharona recognizes the plot of her missing story and realizes that shes not crazy. All she and Monk have to do now is tie together the...

With Sharona in New Jersey to visit her ailing mother, Monk is left in the very incompetent hands of his annoying upstairs neighbor, Kevin Dorfman, but the prospect of a week with Kevin is eased somewhat by a visit from Trudys father, Dwight Ellison. Dwight invites Monk (and Kevin) to spend the week with him and his wife, Marcia – and at the same time investigate gameshow host Roddy Lankman, who appears to be involved in a conspiracy to allow one of his contestants, Val Birch, to win every game. Despite the memories of Trudy aroused by spending time with her parents in her former home and the questionable help of Kevin, Monk discovers evidence that Lankman visited Birchs house – and that Birch visited the site of the accident that killed Lankmans assistant, Lizzie Talvo. To discover exactly how Lankman and his crooked contestant are communicating – and possibly prove that theyre involved in something much worse than cheating – Monk becomes a contestant on the game show. His knowledge o

With Sharona in New Jersey remarried to her ex-husband, Monk has been without an assistant for three months and its time to find a new one--if only he could find a suitable applicant. When Natalie Teeger, a thirty-something widow with an eleven-year-old daughter, arrives at his house, he thinks shes applying for the job, but shes really been sent by Captain Stottlemeyer to get Monks help--two men have broken into her apartment in the last few days and she had to kill the second one with scissors in self-defense. Examining Natalies apartment, Monk finds a single clue, an unused fish net caught between the sofa cushions, suggesting that the intruders were trying to steal Mr. Henry, Julies pet fish. But why would anyone want to steal a ninety-nine-cent red herring, er, crimson marblefish? A second clue surfaces when Lieutenant Disher finds a note in the dead perps pocket reading ""2:30 Sea of Tranquility"" and Natalie identifies the Sea of Tranquility as an exhibit at the science mus

After witnessing a Chinese gangland murder, Monk has to stay in an FBI safe house--a cabin in the woods--in the protective custody of Agent Grooms, with Stottlemeyer and Natalie as company. Awakened by a mans scream, Monk convinces Stottlemeyer and Natalie that a woman in a nearby cabin has murdered her husband. Agent Grooms, however, remains skeptical. After Grooms disconnects their telephone, Stottlemeyer locks him in the bathroom and the three ""borrow"" Groomss car and set out in a rainstorm to investigate, only to get stuck in the mud on the way. Meanwhile, Disher and his new girlfriend Hayley are encountering a strange circumstance--the fortunes in their fortune cookies keep coming true. When a fortune informs Disher that an old friend is in trouble and only he can save him, Disher immediately sets out to save Monk, unaware that hes leading a pair of hitmen to the FBI cabin. After a rainy night in the car, Stottlemeyer leads Natalie and Monk through the woods toward the neighbor

In the middle of the night, Monk receives a phone call from a drunken Stottlemeyer, who has gone to Las Vegas with Disher for a fellow officers bachelor party. Stottlemeyer believes that a wealthy casino owner has murdered his wife, but he needs Monks help to prove that the death wasnt an accident. Unfortunately, when Monk arrives in Vegas with Natalie the next morning, Stottlemeyer cant remember anything that happened the previous night--including how his pants happened to be thrown out the window. As Monk and Natalie explore the elevator where the woman died, interrogate witnesses, and reenact the death scene (with Monk in the role of victim), Stottlemeyer tries to retrace his steps and deal with Disher, who has become addicted to blackjack and fallen hopelessly deep into debt. When Monk, at Stottlemeyers insistence, takes Dishers place at the blackjack table to win back his money, he figures out how the murder occurred as he simultaneously places winning bets, but the casino o

After twenty-two-month-old Tommy Graser finds a severed finger and gives it to a policeman, Monk walks through the park with Tommy trying to retrace the childs steps. He finds no body or other incriminating evidence, but he does discover a surprising affection for the placid and intelligent toddler, who constantly repeats Monks name and quietly submits to having his hands wiped when he touches ""nature."" A lab technician identifies the finger as that of a twenty-five-year-old man, and Monk deduces from a callus that the young man played the violin. After visiting the home of Daniel Carlyle, a musician who fits this description, Monk concludes that Daniels mother and her other son, Jason, killed Daniel and that Jason is masquerading as his brother. Meanwhile, little Tommy is temporarily removed from the custody of his foster parents, and Monk surprises everyone, including himself, by volunteering to care for him for two weeks until his new adoptive parents can take him. With Tommy in

Monk is reunited with his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose, after the murder of an armored car driver.

Monk goes undercover as an office worker to solve a case.

Is Monk hallucinating or is he really seeing Trudy?

Monk flashes back to his early teenage years.

Monk is facing a crisis: hes down to five shirts. But Inspector No. 8, the only shirt inspector who can meet Monks criteria for perfection, is not up to her usual standards. Sensing that something is wrong, Monk visits No. 8 on the job. The inspector, Maria Ortiz, informs him that her son, Pablo, has been imprisoned for murdering a fashion model, but shes certain that hes innnocent. Monk is chiefly concerned about his shirts, but Natalie persuades him to talk to Pablo because ""its the right thing to do."" The conversation uncovers just one clue: Pablo cant read English. When Monk realizes that the killer must have been able to read an emergency exit sign, hes convinced that Pablo is innocent despite the DNA evidence used to convict him. With Stottlemeyer and Disher in tow, Monk and Natalie attempt to talk to the models former roommate and the fashion designer she worked for, Julian Hodge. But now theres a new problem: Hodge wants thirteen-year-old Julie to model for him. Watching the rehearsal for a fashion show in which Julie will make her debut, Monk discovers a clue that points him to the real killer. When another supermodel is found dead, its imperative that Monk find new evidence to prove his suspect guilty of both murders and set Pablo free--and for Natalie to get Julie away from the person committing the murders.

During the investigation of a murder in a junkyard, Captain Stottlemeyer punches a cop named Ryan Sharkey, who claims to be having an affair with the captains wife, Karen. The only witness to the murder, a homeless man named Gerald or Jerry, has disappeared, but Stottlemeyer suspects businessman Michael Karpov, who is facing charges for money laundering and had a motive for killing the victim, who was scheduled to testify against him. Removed from the case and ordered to take anger management classes, Stottlemeyer asks Monk and Natalie to follow his wife, whom he suspects of lying about her whereabouts. They discover Karen having lunch with a man but are only able to photograph him from the back before being interrupted. Meanwhile, the homeless witness has been stunned and thrown from the third floor of a building but survives the fall, thanks to a corrugated refrigerator carton. Disher places Karpov in a line-up otherwise composed of police officers, including Sharkey, but Stottlemeyer, still enraged at Sharkey, disrupts the line-up before the procedure has been completed. An apple provides the clue that Monk needs to solve the murder case, and Karen reveals the identity of the mystery man she had lunch with. Unfortunately for the captain, it isnt Sharkey.

When Captain Stottlemeyer suspects that a suicide is really a murder, Monk confirms his suspicions by discovering that the victim, Joanne Raphelson, was too short to have used the stool she supposedly stood on to hang herself. But the next clue, the remains of an olive, a cherry, and a cocktail onion on a stirring stick, leads Monk to suspect that the murder was committed by an astronaut, Steve Wagner. A little research reveals a motive--Joanne was about to publish a book revealing that Wagner had abused her five years earlier. Now all Monk has to do is to prove that Wagner could commit the murder when he was in outer space.

Monk is summoned to jury duty against his wishes and must solve two crimes: he has to convince the jury the defendent is not guilty, and solve the mystery of a corpse outside the jury rooms window.

Monk finds himself adrift in an ocean of filth when a garbage strike brings San Francisco to a halt...and Adrian to near-paralysis.

When Monk goes to his firehouse to get his smoke detectors inspected, the crew is quickly called away to a fatal house fire in which a young woman is killed. Minutes later, a mysterious intruder walks into the firehouse, lethally bludgeons a veteran fireman, blinds Monk with cleaning acid, then escapes. Despite Monk losing his eyesight, Stottlemeyer coaxes him to continue investigating, and Monk soon finds that the fire and his attack are connected.

Monk attends his college reunion and uncovers a complex murder plot against one of his former classmates.

Monk goes to a rock concert to look for Captain Stottlemeyers son and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.

A missing millionaire suffering from leprosy comes out of hiding to hire Monk, who soon finds himself in the midst of a shadowy murder plot worthy of a classic Hollywood film noir. Episode originally aired in black and white.

When Natalie suspects foul play in the deaths of her parents wealthy neighbors, Monk goes undercover as a butler to investigate.

When Lt. Disher inherits a farm from an uncle who committed suicide, he decides to quit the police force and start a new life in the country. But Disher soon suspects that his uncle was murdered, so Monk joins him on the farm to investigate.

Monk goes to the emergency room for a bloody nose, but when a doctor in the hospital turns up dead, Monk joins the murder investigation, and soon his own life is in grave danger.

Monk is hired to clear the name of a famous rap star who is accused of murder.

Monks friendship with Captain Stottlemeyer is put to the test when Monk suspects the captains girlfriend of murder.

Monk digs up trouble after following a treasure map brought to him by Dr. Krogers son Troy.

When a man he sent to prison years ago is cleared based on new evidence, a guilty Monk tries to help him adjust to life on the outside.

Monk becomes a social pariah when he shoots a man dressed as Santa Claus. Then he must clear his name and foil a larger criminal plot, all in time for Christmas.

One of Monks treasured possessions is stolen from a safety deposit box, and hell go to any length to solve the case.

Monk decides to take up painting as a hobby, and discovers an ardent admirer willing to buy anything he produces.

Stottlemeyer must keep up the pretense that Monk is dead, while Adrian tries to determine who framed him for murder.

Monk must match wits against a grandmaster chess player that he suspects of murder.

Monk finds a new lease on life after giving up his hope of reinstatement to the SFPD.

When Monk develops a crush on a model who is accused of murder, he is determined to prove her innocence, even though she confessed.

Monk agrees to undergo hypnotic therapy as treatment for his OCD and reverts to a different persona.

When Monks delinquent half-brother, Jack Jr., escapes from prison and breaks into Monks apartment, he manipulates Monk into helping him find the person he claims framed him for murder.

While investigating a murder at a museum of oddities, Monk befriends a warm older woman, but he has trouble believing the friendship comes without a catch.

When a childhood bully who terrorized Monk hires the detective to trail his wife, whom he suspects of infidelity, Monk relishes the opportunity to prove him right — and things get even sweeter when the bully is accused of murder.

Monk becomes involved in the disappearance of a city official that could have ramifications concerning Trudys murder.

Monk meets a visiting African widower whos determined to find the hit-and-run-driver who killed his wife near Monks apartment. Monk begins to identify with the man and confuses his wife with Trudy.

Monk assumes a dead hitmans identity in order to foil an assassination plot.

Natalie suspects a theater critic is responsible for a murder, despite the fact that he was present to review her daughter Julies play at the same time the victim died.

After Monks insurance company refuses to pay for more private therapy sessions, he joins Dr. Bells therapy group, where it appears that someone is murdering fellow patients.

When Sharona returns to San Francisco to handle legal issues related to an uncles death, Monk suspects foul play and is torn between the differing styles of Sharona and Natalie.

To get reinstated, Monk must go camping with the son of a committee member... and try to solve a crime.

Upon being reinstated, Monk is put in charge of tracking down a serial killer.

After listening to Trudys last message, Monk finally discovers who killed his wife. Racing against time before he dies of poison, he must make a fateful decision.