Monk’s house is being fumigated, and he has nowhere to go. Fortunately, his assistant Natalie and her daughter are kind enough to welcome him into their home. Unfortunately, their home is not quite up to Monk’s standards of cleanliness and order.
But while Monk attempts to arrange his surroundings just so, something else needs to be put straight. The death of a dog at the local firehouse-on the same night as a fatal house fire-has led Monk into a puzzling mystery. And much to his horror, he’s going to have to dig through a lot of dirt to find the answer.

I decided to give the Mr Monk books a try after reading a review of Mr Monk Goes To Germany on crossexaminingcrime.wordpress.com

I don’t normally read novels based on a TV series but I have fond memories of Monk, especially the chemistry between Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford and I love the way Lee Goldberg uses humour so I found the first book in the series and dived in (I know what you’re thinking: “Did it have to be the first book? Couldn’t you have started anywhere?” Well, I could no more start in the middle of a series than Monk could get through a day without Wet Ones).

‘Mr Monk Goes To The Firehouse‘ was a light comfort read that made me smile and sometimes laugh.

It helped that I could immediately see Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford in my head as the story unfolded but I wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did if this had just been a script turned into a novel. The outcome would have been too flat I think.

Lee Goldberg’s decision to tell the story from Natalie Teeger’s point of view was what made the book work for me. I enjoyed being inside her head, learning more about her and seeing Monk through her eyes. It turns out that Natalie has a dry sense of humour that I took pleasure in. Also, I’d much rather be in Natalie’s head than Monk’s. Being inside Monk’s head for 250 pages would have been very uncomfortable.

Despite the large number of dead bodies (Monk solves multiple murders in this one) the tone remained cosy without dropping down into sickeningly cute. The mysteries snagged my curiosity and kept my attention, Natalie’s worldview kept me engaged and I enjoyed all the little details of San Fransico’s history. The main thing for me though was the warm glow I felt from the gentle humour that drives the book.

I’ll be back for more Mr Monk when I’m in need of a reliable comfort read.