Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse

I loved “Monk”, the television series. I recently TV binged on all 8 seasons. When it was all over, I discovered the 19 books based upon the television series, which were written by Lee Goldberg, who wrote 15 of them, and Hy Conrad, who wrote 4 of them. Both authors had been involved in the writing of the television episodes.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 this book captures his essence.Here, Monk investigates the death of a beloved firehouse dog, which occurred the same night as a fatal house fire in which a querulous and unpopular woman was killed. 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 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.

Obviously some reviewers feel otherwise, but to me this book was difficult to read. The dialog was good, but the story is told from Natalie's point of view, written as if she is just sitting in a room and talking to someone, and the attempts at humor were mostly lame. I also tired quickly of her explaining Monk's quirks for the 'audience.' I am having a hard time explaining exactly why I didn't enjoy this book, but I didn't. About 60% through I was tempted to just put it down but I slogged through to the end. The plot was good and would have made a good episode but I didn't find it translated well to book format.

I bought the book because I love the show, but despite the clever mystery, I won't be reading another book by this author. He wrote as if from the perspective of a woman, Natalie, but sprinkled in so much sexist male perspective as if it were the way a woman sees the world and other women that it not only ruined the realism, it was actually offensive.It comes pretty close to ruining the show along with Natalie's character. It definitely gives me a dark view of Goldberg's character.He also wrote Natalie as if she were not only a man, but at least two or three decades older than she is on the show with dated cultural references. Lazy, sexist, and disappointing.

MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE is the one that activates Lee Goldberg's run of Monk mysteries in prose format. This book series - the first fifteen of which were penned by Goldberg, the final four by Hy Conrad - served to tide over those who were jonesing for further Monk mysteries, especially once the TV show ended in 2009.Book starts with a potentially nightmarish scenario for Natalie Teeger. Her boss Mr. Monk's apartment building is getting tented for fumigation, and, so, her boss needed someplace else to stay. With Captain Stottlemeyer wanting no part of this and with Monk's rejecting hotel room after hotel room, Natalie bows down to the inevitable. Cut to Monk's temporarily moving into her home.Here's a segue: Whenever Firefighter Joe gave his annual fire safety talk at Natalie's daughter Julie's school, he always brought Sparky, the firehouse dalmatian. However, one evening, while the firefighters were away responding to a call, someone walked into the fire station and stoved in the dog's skull with a pickaxe.How is that relevant? While Mr. Monk moves in, Natalie wonders why her daughter wasn't coming out of her room to greet them. Natalie walks into Julie's bedroom to find her little girl in tears, devastated because of the dog killing. Mr. Monk overhears and promises a sobbing Julie that he would find out who did it. Julie hires him on the spot (Monk's fee is that Julie picks up her weepy, snotty Kleenex off the floor, seal it in a plastic bag, and take it out of the house) . It's always a moving moment whenever Monk exhibits thoughtfulness or demonstrates that, see?, he does care for other people.All the scenes with Mr. Monk at the fire station are really fun. If anyone can appreciate how diligent the firefighters are with their upkeep of their HQ, it's Monk who, as we know, is very much the clean police. See him get giddy as he eyeballs the firefighters on maintenance duty, cleaning and mopping and polishing and such. See him take in the fire engines burnished to an incandescent shine and the equipment stowed in immaculate order. It makes sense that Monk would want to join in on the "fun." He volunteers to help polish the place up. When the fire chief, being a kindred spirit, gives the okay, see Monk practically skip away over to the bucket of cleaning rags.And when Monk isn't blissfully cleaning at the firehouse, he's engaged in the other thing that gives him purpose: solving crimes. Goldberg throws in other obstacles in a stab at obfuscation, except Monk can't be muddled. There's a rumor of a buried treasure. There is the accidental demise of a hateful woman who chain-smoked her way to an early grave. And there's that dog trainer who lives a few doors down from the fire station and who harbors a mighty grudge against the firehouse dog, Sparky.This being Goldberg's launching of a new Monk series, he readily establishes some ground rules. First, Natalie Teeger is the first-person narrator, our point-of-view character. Because imagine if it were Adrian Monk telling the story. (***shudder***) Next, the author gives Natalie a life that extends beyond her being Monk's long-suffering assistant. We take note that Goldberg will try his durndest to sustain the show's lighthearted tone and to stay faithful to the characters' individual voices. I really liked this book. Adrian Monk remains as appealing as ever despite his aggravating compulsions. And, of course, there's the gratifying razzle-dazzle that Monk delivers when he solves a murder by seeing something that no else can see. Monk is so prolific that, as you'll see in ensuing books, he treats us to multiple payoffs. Besides the big denouement, the man will solve two, three other murders on the side.By the way, if you're caught up with Goldberg's run, then you know that MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS, Goldberg's fourth Monk book, has a touching callback to the firehouse.Lastly, the Large Print copy that I bought ended at page 369. Uh oh.

Monk was a great TV show and this book brought the show back to life. Super cute lighthearted read. I enjoyed it and at times it made me chuckle. It was great to read in the mind of Natalie, yet I also got a great sense of Monk's mind and how he solves mysteries. A good fast easy read. Nothing deep or moving... It was a good read for when you need something light and silly and scientific, if that makes sense.

This was a pretty good novelization and was later turned into an episode. Being written from the point of view of Natalie was a little odd and resulted in a good portion of the book being a romantic subplot that falls flat. The mystery solving was nice and the humor was pretty good. I'm going to keep reading through the novelizations.

Superb. Snappy, sharp writing combined with a terrific sense of humour and a good dose of empathy makes this a top, entertaining read that is extremely difficult not to finish in one sitting. I came to this without having seen the popular TV series but have now immediately downloaded the first season on Amazon video as well as the next book in the series. You just can't help loving Mr Monk! Recommended.

I loved this! I love all the Monk books I have read so far. I loved all eight TV series but, amazingly,I love the books just as much. If you have never read an Adrian Monk book, Adrian is a brilliant detective who, unfortunately, has OCD - way beyond OCD! You just come to respect the man in spite of his quirks (or at least overlook them) just like the few true friends he has do. There is always a murder(s) to solve but the story is always light-hearted and amusing with it, which I know sounds wrong, but it provides entertaining reading. Like everything else, these books may not be everyone's choice, but they are so inexpensive, it wouldn't hurt to try one!  Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse: Monk Series, Book 1Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse: Monk Series, Book 1

Mr.Monk is a brilliant detective, he just has one problem, he suffers from OCD. So, when his apartment has to fumigated, and he moves into his assistants Natalie's place for a spell, well, you can just bet that life for Natalie, and her daughter Julie is going to be turned upside down.the mystery begins when the firestation Dog is found killed. When an elderly woman Esther Stoval is found dead, seemingly the victim of a house fire, Monk knows otherwise and quickly gets to work on proving who did the dasterdly deed.This is yet another great read from master writer Lee Goldberg, I enjoyed it immensely, and couldn't put it down.

Great books..going to read them all..

Anyone having watched the series would recognise a large part of this story but it does not detract from the reading. An enjoyable light read.