Mr Monk in Trouble (2009) by Lee Goldberg

Given the success of my first reading experience of the Adrian Monk mystery novels, Mr Monk Goes to Hawaii (2006), it should not be too surprising that I am back for more so soon.

Synopsis

‘Ever since a 1962 unsolved train robbery made it famous, people have flocked to the town of Trouble in California’s gold country, searching for the booty that train robbers supposedly dumped off the Golden Rail in a botched heist. When the museum watchman is murdered, Monk and his assistant Natalie, are sent to investigate. Monk quickly becomes obsessed with the unsolved robbery – and discovers that Trouble’s gold rush-era assayer was a quirky fellow named Artemis Monk. But that might not be the only thing that ties the past to the present, and if Monk isn’t careful, he’ll learn how the town of Trouble can live up to its name.’

Overall Thoughts

Although this is only my second foray into the series, one of the things I am appreciating about it is that its structure does not come across as too formulated or as being too stuck in one particular rut. Mr Monk in Trouble has a dual narrative, as there are various sections which are extracts from a diary written in 1855 by Abigail Guthrie, who came to the town of Trouble with her husband during the Gold Rush. The prologue introduces us to her story and how her husband died still hoping to make it rich. Due to his death, she ends up laundering for Artemis Monk, the town’s assayer, but eventually becomes his assistant. Even if the surname was not a big clue, this prologue provides further evidence to suggest the odd parallel or two between Adrian and Artemis:

‘There was something very unusual about the geology of Trouble or unique to Monk’s calculations, because the various minerals in the samples he analysed always showed up in even amounts. He attributed it to the “immutable balance of nature,” but if that was so, the rest of the world was unbalanced. As odd as that was, the fact remained that Monk always turned out to be right in his estimates of the worth of a claim and anybody who ever questioned his conclusions eventually found that out for themselves the hard way.’

Future diary instalments provide additional commonalities and one of the things I enjoyed about this story was how the mysteries Adrian solves in the present are mirrored in the cases Abigail relates. I felt this was managed in a clever way to avoid the narrative feeling padded or repetitive. The way Adrian Monk and Natalie respond to the information that Artemis and Abigail duplicate their own lives and working dynamic is also spot on. Natalie is open to the possibility, whilst Adrian is highly sceptical and blind to the similarities between him and Artemis. The way this is tied up at the end is equally well-handled.

Whilst I am no expert on the Gold Rush period in America, I think the writer does a good job in recreating that time in history for his readers and I did note in the author’s acknowledgements that they sought out those more knowledgeable in this area for advice and information.

Chapter one takes us back to the present and suffice to say Adrian Monk should not be allowed to open the door on Hallowe’en night. Ever! In keeping with the previous book, I read in this series, Monk solves a murder in this chapter, (though it carries through into the second) based on someone who knocks on his door. I am finding this an interesting aspect to the series, as I am not used to mystery stories in which the lead detective routinely solves a big crime within a matter of pages at the start of the novel. Moreover, I would suggest that they serve a similar purpose to Sherlock Holmes’ flurry of deductions when a new client arrives at Baker Street. It is not something we are meant to be able to replicate, but it is a means of demonstrating the sleuth’s core character and personality, whilst dazzling the reader – just a little bit. This initial murder case is enjoyably depicted on the page with some wonderfully absurd comic moments, not least when Captain Stottlemeyer arrives dressed as a pirate and him and Adrian Monk get caught up in a linguistic disagreement on the number of “yos” and “hos” a pirate traditionally says, all the while a killer is bound on Monk’s hallway floor.

However, one difference I noticed between this book and my first Monk mystery read, was that the narrative voice of Natalie Teeger felt less abrasive. In a way it felt toned down a little, or maybe less intensely direct. This is not a bad thing, as I did find it took me a few chapters to get used to the narrative tone in Mr Monk Goes to Hawaii.

Once again Lee Goldberg does an excellent job of transferring the Monk we love in the TV series on to the page and I wonder whether Goldberg’s scriptwriting background means he has a good ear for dialogue. Speech in his books is not redundant. If it is not moving the plot along then it is providing some character insight or a moment of comedy. Very often the last two are combined. For example, there is this passage when Adrian Monk is not keen on going to Trouble:

“I can’t do it,” Monk said.

“Why not?” I said.

“Tumbleweeds,” Monk said. He was terrified of them.

“What do Tumbleweeds have to do with anything?” Stottlemeyer said.

“It’s an Old West town,” Monk said. “The Old West is where tumbleweeds like to tumble.”

“I’ll protect you,” I said.

“How?”

“If any tumbleweeds come along, I’ll throw myself in front of them.”

“You’d do that for me?” he asked.

“Just like I did when you were nearly hit by that runaway dandelion a few weeks ago.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Monk said. “Tumbleweeds are like dandelions on steroids.”

Moments like this made Mr Monk in Trouble a joy to read. Nevertheless, as I was to discover later in the novel, Natalie saves Mr Monk from a far more disastrous plight and the action content and consistent good pacing are two other assets of this mystery. As the blurb suggests there is more than one mystery for Monk to solve and I felt this was another way the book maintains reader attention and it was pleasing to see how the cases interlocked.

One thing I am still getting used to with the Monk mysteries is the different approach to cluing. In some ways I think it can be harder to solve a Monk mystery if you adopt a traditional method of identifying clues in a story. For me, when I am at my most successful with solving a Monk mystery, I am usually not analysing a timetable of the suspects’ movements, but I am noticing a plot trope or narrative arc and remembering how this is typically played out. This meant I was able to solve one of the Artemis Monk mysteries quite easily due to an early plot trope spot, and I was able to identify the criminal party for the murder of the museum watchman. However, this strategy is only as good as your knowledge of mystery plots, either in book form or on TV. As such I did not figure out where the missing gold robbery loot went. Perhaps more imaginative reasoning is required to come up with the clue interpretations that Monk does. I have mentioned the scriptwriting background of the writer and again I wonder if this experience influenced the deployment of clues in the book. How does cluing on TV differ to cluing in books? (Answers on a postcard or in the comments section below!)

So overall, this was another excellent Monk read and I hope to get back to the series later this month. I am trying my best to not binge read them back-to-back. I think what made this book slightly better than Mr Monk Goes to Hawaii was the use of the historical element of the story and I felt the mini mysteries dovetailed together better.

Rating: 4.5/5