Adrian Monk, a former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) detective, comes out of forced retirement to investigate the murder of a politician's bodyguard and learns that there is more at play than meets the eye, especially after discovering secrets involving the candidate's wife and campaign manager.
When the wife of the police commissioner (John Bourgeois) disappears, her body is mysteriously found by a hack "psychic" (Linda Kash). Everyone believes she accomplished the impossible–except for Monk.
When a local judge is found murdered, all the evidence points to one man: an 800 lb (360 kg) reclusive tycoon named Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck (Adam Arkin). However, due to his extreme obesity, he is unable to leave his bed.
An amusement park ride turns deadly when Stottlemeyer's former partner (Stephen McHattie) gets on a ferris wheel with a mysterious informant. When the ride comes to a stop, the informant has a knife in his chest. The lieutenant, who has a history of police brutality, is suspended.
After being discovered in Trudy's old house, Monk is temporarily institutionalized. Once committed, he stumbles upon a four-year-old murder. Along the way, Monk is aided by various other patients at the hospital, including a man (Kevin Nealon) who mirrors those around him, a woman who gets angry easily and lashes out at people and a man who is obsessed with Santa Claus.
A billionaire computer mogul is shot dead while mugging a couple outside a movie theater, and a uniformed officer later is seen fleeing the scene. While the press hound the police about the identity of "Fraidy Cop", Monk investigates what at first appears to be a midlife crisis gone horribly wrong–until he finds out that the two cases are connected.
Monk's dedication to his late wife is tested when he meets a beautiful woman (Maria del Mar) who has her sights set on a certain obsessive-compulsive detective.
Monk knows that a local furniture magnate threw his young mistress off the balcony of her 21st floor apartment. However, the man has a perfect alibi: he was across town running in a citywide marathon.
Monk, Sharona, and Benjy head off for a week of rest and relaxation, but it's back to work when Benjy witnesses a murder through a telescope at their beach resort. Monk is aided in his investigation by a woman (Polly Draper) whose only detective training was learned through movies.
When a San Francisco philanthropist dies mysteriously in a minor earthquake, Monk suspects foul play, and Sharona's life is soon in danger.
Country superstar Willie Nelson is arrested for murder, but Monk thinks he is innocent.
Monk braves the unfriendly skies–and finds murder in the air. No one believes him except for Randy, who provides aid back in San Francisco. While in the air, Monk must deal with his fear of flight, a flight attendant (Brooke Adams), a zealous extension cord salesman (Garry Marshall), and Tim Daly.
Monk takes a job as a substitute high school teacher at Trudy's alma mater to determine whether an English teacher really jumped from a clock tower while committing suicide, or was murdered by her boyfriend, a popular science teacher (Andrew McCarthy).
When a skydiver on vacation in San Macros, Mexico jumps out of an airplane, his chute malfunctions and he dies on impact in the desert. But the coroner finds water in the skydiver's lungs, saying that the boy drowned in midair. Monk is brought to Mexico, where the phrase "don't drink the water" takes on a whole new meaning.
When a ruthless CEO and his wife are lured to an industrial park and are shot dead in their car, Monk connects their murders to a star baseball player's (Christopher Wiehl) quest for the single season home run record.
When a circus ringmaster is shot dead by a high flying acrobat at a restaurant, Monk immediately suspects the man's vengeful ex-wife (Lolita Davidovich) of the murder. But before Monk can find out how the pretty trapeze artist committed the murder with a broken foot, he must get Sharona to overcome her fear of elephants.
Captain Stottlemeyer must take a page from the Book of Monk when his wife nags him into looking into the murder of the world's oldest man. First on-screen appearance of Karen Stottlemeyer (Glenne Headly).
Sharona's sister Gail (Amy Sedaris) lands a part in a local play that any actress would kill for. But when the actor playing her love interest literally dies on stage after Gail apparently stabs him with a real knife that was switched with a prop knife, the police are convinced she's taken her role a little too far. Sharona and her mother (Betty Buckley) urge Monk to step into the spotlight and find the real killer before the curtain falls on Gail for good.
Monk suspects a guy of murdering his sister with a mail bomb. The only problem: his primary suspect is in a coma. Meanwhile, Sharona is visited by her ex-husband Trevor (Frank John Hughes).
When the publisher of the high-powered glamour Sapphire Magazine is strangled and killed on his exercise weights under mysterious circumstances, all clues lead to the infamous swinging party palace, Sapphire Mansion, and the playboy (Gary Cole) behind the magazine. But while a weekend behind the gates of the legendary estate may be every man's fantasy, it is Monk's worst nightmare, especially after his suspect threatens to release embarrassing photos from Sharona's past.
When a rash of unusual attacks and murders strike, Monk is called upon to find the link between the victims and stop the killer before the next murder.
When Monk's 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.
During the investigation into a carjacking over a cherry pie, Adrian is called by his estranged agoraphobic brother Ambrose (John Turturro), who is convinced that his next-door neighbor murdered his wife. Adrian must rebuild his relationship with Ambrose while investigating the neighbor at the same time.
Monk suspects the star (Billy Burke) of a popular CSI-based TV crime show of killing his ex-wife so that he doesn't have to share his enormous paychecks with her.
A law student (Rachel Dratch) offers to get Monk reinstated to the police force in exchange for his help in finding the kidnappers of her beloved grandmother.
A tow truck driver is shot dead by a roadside sniper. His truck then careens off the road and crashes into Karen Stottlemeyer's (Glenne Headly) oncoming van, leaving her in a coma. Monk, most interested by the fact that the shooter and the driver were barefoot, must find out what really happened and keep Leland from doing something that could cost him his badge.
When Randy's mother gets married to an antiques store dealer (Nestor Carbonell), Randy becomes suspicious of his new stepfather and asks Monk and Sharona to look into him.
When a death row inmate is poisoned to death 45 minutes before his scheduled execution, Monk is brought in to find out why and runs into his nemesis, Dale the Whale (Tim Curry), who will offer Monk information about Trudy if he finds who killed the inmate. The suspects, however, are endless, including the prison librarian (Kathy Baker), another inmate (Danny Trejo), and even neo-Nazis.
Monk and his friends go to New York City to discover the connection between Trudy's murder and Warrick Tennyson, whose name was given to Monk by Dale the Whale in last season's cliffhanger, "Mr. Monk Goes to Jail". As they're checking into their hotel, mayhem breaks out in the lobby and three people are killed, including the Latvian ambassador to the United Nations. Monk quickly discovers that the ambassador's coat is wet – an odd detail because minutes earlier he was standing near Monk in a dry coat. Monk provides a police sketch artist with minute details about the perpetrator's left ear – the only part of his face that wasn't covered – and Stottlemeyer pressures the New York police captain to allow them access to Tennyson in exchange for their help in the new case. However, the DA, for reasons of her own, is blocking their access to Tennyson, and only after Stottlemeyer "borrows" the keys to the captain's office and pulls out the file that he saw Captain Cage hurriedly stuff into the b...
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 there's a further twist: the dead man's 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 he's 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
Three deaths during a city-wide blackout result in a joint investigation by Stottlemeyer, Monk, Sharona, and Disher, with the unprecedented cooperation of the FBI and the help of power company spokeswoman Michelle Rivas, an attractive brunette who is inexplicably attracted to Monk. While Sharona and Dr. Kroger pressure Monk to call Michelle, Disher follows up on Monk's suggestion that the power outage is connected to a '90s radical named Winston Brenner. Everything fits--the handwriting in the note, the phrasing, even a pair of photographs. Everything except one small detail at the end of the report--Brenner died in 1995. When the FBI acknowledges the possibility that Brenner may have faked his own death to avoid a trial, Captain Stottlemeyer presents a tree-hugging former friend of Brenner's with the evidence that Brenner is still alive and reminds him that this particular power outage is also a homicide. When the tree-hugger is murdered, it becomes clear that the killer is indeed Bre
Karen Stottlemeyer has decided to film a "cinema verite" documentary about her husband's work, but her timing couldn't 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 victim's age and nationality, he accidentally erases several years' worth of crucial computer files, and the enraged commissioner revokes Monk's private practice license despite Stottlemeyer's 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 Monk's information, the captain and Disher zero...
When five members of the West Coast Mafia are shot down in a barbershop, Monk is pressured by mob godfather Salvatore Lucarelli and his nephew "Fat Tony" to solve the case. But the FBI in the person of Agent Colmes is pressuring him, too. Despite Captain Stottlemeyer's insistence that Colmes is not to be trusted, Monk accepts his offer of reinstatement on the police force if he can bring down the whole gang. The only clues are a partially completed crossword puzzle and a gumball machine that was apparently used to break a back window so the killer could escape. With a Mafia bodyguard named Vince as their "babysitter", Monk and Sharona interview the sole witness, Phil Bedard, a young U.S. mint employee who tells them that he saw three men running from the scene, one of them wearing a jacket with a strange-looking number 15 on the back. Bedard also explains the heightened security at the mint: someone has stolen five double-headed pennies. Associating the numbers on the jackets with a Ch...
It's Sharona's 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 Sharona's: everything from Monk's 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 instructor's husband dies of a heart attack after eating tomato soup, Sharona recognizes the plot of her missing story and realizes that she's not crazy. All she and Monk have to do now is tie together the...
When Edna Coruthers, a model employee at a giant chain store called Mega-Mart, is killed by a falling television set, Monk is called in to investigate by the store's security chief – who turns out to be his disgraced ex-partner, Joe Christie. Neither Monk nor Stottlemeyer wants to work with Christie, whom they hold responsible for some missing cocaine and the death of two police officers, and both of them disregard the evidence that Edna might have been murdered – a broken shoe heel (suggesting that the victim ran from someone or something), her dust allergy (which normally kept her from entering the loading dock where the death occurred), and the three letters (in different handwriting but with similar stamps) complaining about the victim. Twenty-seven days later, realizing that the stamps were all from the same roll and therefore from the same person, Monk reluctantly agrees to help Christie discover a suspect and a motive by working undercover as a store clerk. But he still doesn't tr...
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 Trudy's 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 Birch's house – and that Birch visited the site of the accident that killed Lankman's assistant, Lizzie Talvo. To discover exactly how Lankman and his crooked contestant are communicating – and possibly prove that they're involved in something much worse than cheating – Monk becomes a contestant on the game show. His knowledge o
After Captain Stottlemeyer is shot in the shoulder by an unknown assailant, a somewhat rattled and very angry Disher is left in charge of the investigation. Although Monk is almost as distressed as Disher, he provides very little help with the investigation, even allowing a suspect to get away. Feeling depressed and helpless, Monk decides to try a new medication that controls his OCD and eliminates his phobias but also makes him insufferably egotistical, unempathetic, and oblivious to the details that are so vivid to the "normal" Monk. Meanwhile, the suspect Disher has been pursuing is proven innocent, and the bullet taken from the captain's shoulder is traced to a gun belonging to a dead woman. Stottlemeyer impatiently checks himself out of the hospital with his arm in a sling and arranges to interview the new suspect with the help of Monk, Sharona, and Disher. Monk arrives late, dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt and talking like a "cool cat" from the 1950s. "The Monk", as he calls him...
With Sharona in New Jersey remarried to her ex-husband, Monk has been without an assistant for three months and it's 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 she's applying for the job, but she's really been sent by Captain Stottlemeyer to get Monk's 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 Natalie's 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, Julie's 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 perp's pocket reading "2:30 Sea of Tranquility" and Natalie identifies the Sea of Tranquility as an exhibit at the science mus...
When John Ricca, author of a controversial and unfavorable biography of martial artist Sonny ("The Cobra") Chow, is found dead in his home, all the evidence points to Chow as the murderer. Unfortunately for Captain Stottlemeyer, his chief suspect has been dead for six years. While Monk and Natalie (who's more interested in being reimbursed for her business expenses than in solving the case) visit Chow's former teacher, Master Zee, who claims that Chow died in his arms, Stottlemeyer resorts to having the corpse dug up to prove that, despite rumors to the contrary, Chow is indeed dead. A dental X-ray proving that the corpse is Chow leaves Monk to figure out who tried to frame the dead man for murder. On an inadvertent tip from Disher, an avid Cobra fan, Monk and Natalie visit the Sonny Chow museum, where Monk finds two important clues – a hairbrush that has been stolen from its case and replaced with a lookalike and the stamp that the museum proprietor placed on Natalie's hand so that she...
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 man's 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" Grooms's 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 he's 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...
When Monk, Natalie, and Julie get stuck in a traffic jam after a multi-car collision blocks the freeway, Monk gets out of the car to investigate. He soon deduces from the absence of skid marks and other clues that the young man in the overturned Volkswagen that caused the pile-up was murdered and his body placed in the car to make his death look like an accident. But the highway patrolman in charge of the "accident" scene wants nothing to do with Monk (or the not-very-successful lawyer who has latched onto him), and the mountains blocking the signal prevent Monk from calling Captain Stottlemeyer for an authorization to investigate. Monk briefly returns to Natalie's car, where he finds Julie in need of a bathroom and Natalie nursing an injured wrist. Unfortunately for them, Monk's mind is on the fatality, and he returns to the Volkswagen. The angry officer gives him the victim's name and occupation (environmental activist), but he still refuses to listen to Monk's evidence. Meanwhile, t...
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 officer's bachelor party. Stottlemeyer believes that a wealthy casino owner has murdered his wife, but he needs Monk's help to prove that the death wasn't an accident. Unfortunately, when Monk arrives in Vegas with Natalie the next morning, Stottlemeyer can't 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 Stottlemeyer's insistence, takes Disher's 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...
With her daughter's school about to be closed as a cost-cutting measure, Natalie becomes a candidate in the upcoming school board election despite Monk's fears that she'll desert him if she wins. Natalie's frustrations with a jammed photocopier and other defective equipment bought at a police auction are dwarfed by fear for her life when a sniper fires into her campaign headquarters, further damaging the equipment and killing a security guard. The only clues to the identity of the sniper are an oddly folded note demanding that "Natalie Teege" withdraw from the election and a bullet from a semiautomatic rifle made in Russia. Suspicion falls on Natalie's opponent in the election, Harold Krenshaw, whom Monk knows as a fellow patient of Dr. Kroger's. Although Monk thinks that Krenshaw is lying about his friendship with Dr. Kroger and Krenshaw admits to being an excellent shot, Monk is sure that Krenshaw is innocent because he wouldn't misspell Natalie's name. When Krenshaw passes a polygraph...
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 child's 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 Monk's 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 Daniel's 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...
While Monk is immobilized by the presence of dog poo at a crime scene, slovenly private eye Marty Eels steps in, using the dog poo (and the dog) as clues in the murder of a security guard, the robbery of a jewelry store, and the disappearance of the store owner, Harold Gumbal. With Monk tailing helplessly behind, muttering "He's cheating" and "That's impossible", Eels locates the stolen jewels, Gumbal's car, and Gumbal's body. Using Gumbal's watch as a clue, he determines the identity of one of the killers, who is then arrested and interrogated. Just as Eels is becoming a local celebrity, with Monk as "yesterday's news", Monk figures out Eels' secret and confronts him. Eels challenges him to prove it, but moments later, he runs after Monk begging for his help: the killer who's still at large wants the jewels back and is holding Eels' mother hostage. The shoe is on the other foot, and Monk must figure out where Mrs. Eels is and why she must be rescued before 8:20.
Monk is reunited with his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose, after the murder of an armored car driver.
Monk feels too sick to work until a case gets him out of bed.
Monk goes undercover as an office worker to solve a case.
Monk goes to a wine-tasting and finds it a bit more than he bargained for.
Is Monk hallucinating or is he really seeing Trudy?
Needing a date for her brother's rehearsal dinner, Natalie resorts to asking Lt. Disher.
Monk flashes back to his early teenage years.
When an officer dies after drinking poisoned wine sent to Captain Stottlemeyer as a Christmas gift, the captain suspects Frank Prager, who tried to shoot him outside a bar several months earlier. Searching the crime scene for clues, Monk notes that the bullet holes seem to form a pattern, but neither he nor Stottlemeyer can figure out the message they're intended to convey. After trying unsuccessfully to talk with Prager's young daughter, Monk goes under cover as Santa Claus. This time he learns that Prager is hiding in a church with "three ladies" in front of it. But when Prager is caught and interrogated, it's clear that he had nothing to do with the poisoned wine. With the other suspects on Disher's list also eliminated, Monk and the captain are back to square one. But when Monk opens the card accompanying his gift from the Christmas party, he finds the clue that solves the case.
Monk is facing a crisis: he's down to five shirts. But Inspector No. 8, the only shirt inspector who can meet Monk's 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 she's certain that he's innnocent. Monk is chiefly concerned about his shirts, but Natalie persuades him to talk to Pablo because "it's the right thing to do." The conversation uncovers just one clue: Pablo can't read English. When Monk realizes that the killer must have been able to read an emergency exit sign, he's 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 model's former roommate and the fashion designer she worked for, Julian Hodge. But now there's 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, it's 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.
Suffering from amnesia, Monk wakes up believing he is the husband of an eccentric resident of a small town.
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 captain's 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 isn't Sharkey.
Low on cash because they haven't had a homicide to investigate in three weeks, Monk and Natalie search for the stolen Alexander Diamond, hoping to win the million-dollar reward. Unfortunately, they have competition in the form of a retired Scotland Yard investigator, a bounty hunter, and a gadget-loving private detective, all of whom want the reward money for themselves. Monk quickly figures out that the heist was an inside job and that one of the robbers was under five feet tall, short enough to hide inside a roll-top desk. He also discovers a clue linking a perpetrator to a transcendental meditation retreat. With their competitors close behind them, Monk and Natalie head for the retreat, where they find the thief, who is unfortunately dead. Meanwhile, Disher is having to interrogate a strange young woman who keeps turning herself in for such "crimes" as stealing pens or murdering a hamster. Monk tells Natalie that he's solved the case and they race to the police station with the other detectives following. The only thing left is to find the diamond before their competitors do.
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.
During the investigation of an armored car heist involving the deaths of two drivers and the theft of valuable government bonds, Lt. Disher tries to convince Captain Stottlemeyer that he witnessed a murder while under anesthesia in the dentist's office. When one of the highjackers, Denny Jardeen, is found murdered, Disher insists that Jardeen is the man he saw Dr. Bloom and his assistant kill while he was sedated. Stottlemeyer still thinks that Disher was hallucinating, and Disher angrily leaves the force, deciding to revive his high school rock band, the Randy Disher Project, as an alternate means of earning his living. Meanwhile, the only clue to Jardeen's murder is two pairs of bruises each ten inches apart on the dead man's chest.
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 room's window.
While working on a double murder, Monk finds that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery when he finds that an obsessive method actor has been cast to play...Adrian Monk in a new movie.
Monk finds himself adrift in an ocean of filth when a garbage strike brings San Francisco to a halt...and Adrian to near-paralysis.
Julie and her friends hire Monk to look into the suspicious death of their basketball coach.
Monk tries to solve a murder after losing his eyesight.
When Natalie convinces Monk to go into business as a private eye, his first case is a seemingly innocuous fender bender that leads to a far more dangerous investigation.
Monk attends his college reunion and uncovers a complex murder plot against one of his former classmates.
When Dr. Kroger retires after his cleaning lady is killed, it's up to Monk to solve the case and get Dr. Kroger back to work.
Monk goes to a rock concert to look for Captain Stottlemeyer's son and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.
When Monk's truck driving father rolls into town at Christmastime, Monk joins him on the road, where they stumble across a very peculiar mystery.
Black and white version of the episode Mr Monk and the Leper (Season 5, Episode 10), appearing on Season 5 Disk 2 of the DVD. Includes commentary.
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. This episode was aired twice, once in black and white and once in color.
A fun-loving everyman named Hal bumps into Monk, and the two become fast friends. For the first time in his life, Monk appears to have a buddy. But is Hal up to something?
When Natalie suspects foul play in the deaths of her parents' wealthy neighbors, Monk goes undercover as a butler to investigate.
Monk goes toe to toe with a popular radio shock jock who is suspected of killing his wife.
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.
When the mysterious “Six Way Killer” strikes in San Francisco, Monk matches his detective skills against the flashy forensic technology of a federal agent as they both pursue the murderer.
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 makes a few exorbitant demands on a very accommodating Dr. Kroger.
Monk wreaks havoc on the Captain's computer.
Monk goes for a medical check-up and is left alone for just long enough to neatly re-organise everything in the room.
Natalie takes Mr. Monk to the gym for a workout.
When Marci Maven is accused of a bizarre crime, she turns to the object of her obsession for help - Adrian Monk.
Monk is hired to clear the name of a famous rap star who is accused of murder.
Monk must confront his prejudice against nudists when he's called to investigate a murder on a nude beach.
Monk's friendship with Captain Stottlemeyer is put to the test when Monk suspects the captain's girlfriend of murder.
Monk tries to prove a sports agent is guilty of murder while helping Natalie’s teenage daughter with her love life.
Monk digs up trouble after following a treasure map brought to him by Dr. Kroger's son Troy.
Monk has trouble coping with new information that he finds out about his arch-rival, Harold Krenshaw.
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.
Mr. Monk takes a walk when he can't sleep, but ends up running into a murder.
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.
Monk joins a cult to solve a murder case, but becomes entranced by the cult's charismatic leader.
One of Monk's treasured possessions is stolen from a safety deposit box, and he'll go to any length to solve the case.
Monk searches for a killer who is apparently targeting women with the name Julie, a name which Natalie's daughter shares.
Monk decides to take up painting as a hobby, and discovers an ardent admirer willing to buy anything he produces.
Monk is arrested for murder, and finds that he has to go on the lam to clear himself.
Stottlemeyer must keep up the pretense that Monk is dead, while Adrian tries to determine who framed him for murder.
Monk finds himself forced to move into what he hopes will be his dream house... which is anything but.
Monk must match wits against a grandmaster chess player that he suspects of murder.
Monk has to help out Natalie when she becomes involved in a lotto scandal.
Monk finds a new lease on life after giving up his hope of reinstatement to the SFPD.
A friend of Natalie's ex-husband seemingly commits suicide aboard a locked cabin on a submarine. Monk agrees to investigate, despite his phobia about being on--and beneath--the water.
When Monk develops a crush on a model who is accused of murder, he is determined to prove her innocence, even though she confessed.
As Monk and his friends watch a TV news magazine piece on the solution of his hundredth case, he realizes that one of the victims was murdered by a different killer.
Monk agrees to undergo hypnotic therapy as treatment for his OCD and reverts to a different persona.
When three homeless men seek Monk's services at the holidays, Natalie convinces him to investigate their friend's death; Stottlemeyer's faith is reawakened after a visit to a monastery fountain rids him of crippling pain.
When Monk's delinquent half-brother, Jack Jr., escapes from prison and breaks into Monk's apartment, he manipulates Monk into helping him find the person he claims framed him for murder.
When Natalie unwittingly helps a thief steal the bicycle of a biotech CEO, she ropes Monk into solving a crime straight out of "Encyclopedia Brown" until Monk learns the hard way how dangerous this thief really is.
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.
Monk has scored tickets to the biggest football game of the year, but he and Captain Stottlemeyer can't go inside until they figure out who tried to blow up a fan in the parking lot.
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.
When a friend of Monk's is killed, Monk believes that a magician is responsible and a battle of wits and sleight-of-hand ensue.
Monk becomes involved in the disappearance of a city official that could have ramifications concerning Trudy's murder.
After the attempted murder of a former child star from Monk's favorite show, Monk accept the job as her bodyguard.
Monk meets a visiting African widower who's determined to find the hit-and-run-driver who killed his wife near Monk's apartment. Monk begins to identify with the man and confuses his wife with Trudy.
Monk and Natalie are stranded in a small desert town and the detective spots a UFO. He soon discovers himself the center of attention, and is called in to investigate a dead woman discovered in the desert.
Monk assumes a dead hitman's identity in order to foil an assassination plot.
Monk and the police have a killer right where they want him... until the case goes to court and a hotshot lawyer demolishes the prosecution as he uses Monk's phobias against them
Natalie suspects a theater critic is responsible for a murder, despite the fact that he was present to review her daughter Julie's play at the same time the victim died.
Area residents receive unmarked dolls that seem to predict a series of strange deaths, leading many to suspect a voodoo curse is in play. The mystery hits close to home when Natalie becomes involved.
After Monk's insurance company refuses to pay for more private therapy sessions, he joins Dr. Bell's therapy group, where it appears that someone is murdering fellow patients.
Natalie tries to throw a surprise party for her surprise-hating boss, who is busy trying to solve the murder of a maintenance man.
When Sharona returns to San Francisco to handle legal issues related to an uncle's death, Monk suspects foul play and is torn between the differing styles of Sharona and Natalie.
Monk reluctantly adopts a dog while looking into the suspicious disappearance of its owner.
To get reinstated, Monk must go camping with the son of a committee member... and try to solve a crime.
Monk must determine who is trying to ruin a friend's wedding.
Monk is put in charge of tracking down a serial killer.
Monk is called to a murder at the location where he first heard of his wife's murder, and while Monk figures out who the assassin is, he doesn't know that the one who ordered the hit is also responsible for the death of Trudy. Knowing that Monk will eventually put all the pieces together, he orders Monk's death, and when all hope seems lost, Monk discovers something which could finally end his 12-year nightmare.
After listening to Trudy's last message, Monk finally discovers who killed his wife. Racing against time before he dies of poison, he must make a fateful decision.
