Mr. Monk on the Couch -- Lee Goldberg

Last Thursday Judy had a full day of miserable tests at M. D. Anderson (no results yet), and I had a long day of waiting rooms. I knew exactly what to take with me: the new Monk book by Lee Goldberg. Based on past experience with the novels in this series, I knew it would be funny, well written, and well researched. I knew it would have a clever plot and interesting characters. And I hoped I'd find some interesting developments in Natalie Teeger's life. I wasn't disappointed. It had all this and more. As a bonus, there's also a quite interesting change in the life of Monk's brother, Ambrose, one that added a good many laughs to the book.

The plot? It appears that a serial killer is on the loose in San Francisco, and as the victims pile up, it turns out that they're all in Natalie's neighborhood. There's a mcguffin, too, giving the title a double meaning. While that's going on, Natalie's making an investigation of her own, into the life of a man who's died of natural causes in a seedy hotel. Who was he? Why was he there. Natalie wants to know.

That's enough said. If you like the other Monk books, you'll like this one. If you've never read the other Monk books, what are you waiting for? This is one of the most entertaining series around. Highly recommended.