Mr. Monk Helps Himself

It has been awhile since I read a book in this series and in that time, a new author has taken over. This entry is a solid one in the ongoing saga of Mr. Monk. The narrative continues to be from Natalie's point of view (personally I preferred her to Sharona in the series). The time frame is post-series. I do miss having Lee Goldberg as the writer, but I adjusted to the slightly different style and enjoyed the ride. Natalie is asserting herself and one baby step is to begin calling her former boss Adrian. There are changes afoot in their relationship. There are two mysteries in this episode: 1) A popular self-help guru takes a dive off a cliff right in front of our two detectives. 2) The murder of a clown is a tricky case. Mr. Monk has clowns in his top 100 phobias. His friends at the police department have to get creative to keep him engaged. What I love about this series is the opportunity to see the beloved Mr. Monk solve a new case or two since I have watched all the shows in the series at least once. I'll be back for more.

This is the first Monk by Hy Conrad (prev. L. Goldberg).<br />I don't know what it is like for other readers but I find it hard to separate the TV character images from the books.<br />Not sure Conrad has the character of Monk completely right. His OCD and quirky helplessness are what make him such a comical character. Although we didn't see a lot of him in this book, as the focus was on Natalie and her career, what we did see seemed harsh and selfish at times.<br />Monk is logical even when being completely illogical and not mean spirited or insulting. In this book he comes off that way in his interactions with the most important women in his life. He also encounters and agrees to situations he wouldn't normally be capable of. I think the author needs to take a closer look at what really makes Monk tick or not tick at all.<br />Other than that it was a pleasant and entertaining read. Monk is a character that amuse me to no end. It shouldn't but it does.<br />I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Enjoyable book, but contains a stupid political comment about how you can't make a presidential candidate reveal his/her tax returns. It's hard to feel good about a book that includes a cheap political shot like that. 1) Tax returns are supposed to be confidential for the protection of everyone who files tax returns, and 2) Romney did reveal his, and they showed he's a generous, honest man. <br />In light of recently-revealed information about how the IRS improperly used its power under the current administration to get information on political foes and target certain fiscally-conservative political organizations, I would hope the author rethinks throwing in comments like that. Simply running for office doesn't make it open season on that person by the IRS and any other government agency/employee with access to information about the candidate. <br />I initially gave the book four stars, but I'm downgrading it to three today because the comment stuck with me and I just read a news story that broke today about government officials having improperly accessed financial records of political candidates. Mr. Conrad, if you're OK with weakening legal protections against candidates for office that you don't like, I don't want to read anything else you write.

I rated this Monk book 7.04 out of 10. It is the 2nd worse Monk book I have ever read and I have read a bunch of them. It is the first one by Hy Conrad and that has me concerned. Every other Monk book I have read is written so Monk is the star and Natalie the side kick. This one is more the opposite. Plus Natalie's character is normally very nice and someone that would be a pleasure to be around. Hy Conrad has taken her in a different direction. She was always complaining, sometimes to herself -- sometimes to others, that they were not taking her seriously. At one point she even asked the Captain something like "If Monk had told you blah blah blah would you have doubted him?" She was upset that her theories were not taking as seriously as they would have been had Monk presented them. DUH! There is a reason for that! He is Monk with a track record of never being wrong. When that happens year after year we tend to believe anything they say. You have no such track record so quit your bitching until you do have. This book was about Natalie with a little bit of Monk thrown in to humor us.

This is the first book by Hy Conrad, who also wrote several episodes for the television series.<br /><br />This book is different than those written by Lee Goldberg, as one should expect. <br /><br />Natalie Teeger books a a weekend at a self help workshop, and the host seems to commit suicide right in front of everybody. Meanwhile, a party clown is murdered by poison money. Monk has to overcome his usual phobias, and a crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, while Teeger attempts to self actualize.<br /><br />I don't think that's it's quite as good as some of Goldberg's work, but it's still pretty good.

I'll be honest - I was a bit apprehensive going into this book. <br /><br />Monk was one of my favorite TV shows, and finding out there was a book companion series was such a treat after the show was canceled. I highly enjoyed the first 15 books written by Lee Goldberg - it was like discovering a whole season of episodes I'd never seen! At the end of the 15th book, Mr. Goldberg announced that a new author would be taking over. I had mixed feelings about this - I certainly wasn't ready for the series to end, but I also wasn't sure how I felt about someone else writing them.<br /><br />Well, I am very pleased to say that I shouldn't have worried at all!<br /><br />Hy Conrad did a FANTASTIC job at keeping this series going. The characters all sounded like themselves, and he kept true to the world Mr. Goldberg had created. (Though it does follow the show, of course, the last several books take place after the show ended and went on a completely different path). I was smiling the entire time reading this, and it was just so nice to be back in Monk's world.<br /><br />I can't wait for the next book, and I hope Mr. Conrad writes a bunch of these! They are just so much fun.

New Writer. Still laugh out loud with a little mystery on the side. I miss the show but love how I can go visit every now and then.

Mr. Monk helps himself by Hy Conrad is the 16th book in the Mr. Monk mystery series and the first by this author. When Miranda Bigley, self-help guru, jumps off a cliff, Natalie, Mr. Monk's assistant, is convinced she was murdered while Mr. Monk investigates the murder of a clown killed by poisoned money. I love this series and especially how Mr. Monk manages to solve the impossible. Hy Conrad was a writer for the television series and the books tie in nicely, but should be read in order as characters that were not in the show have been introduced. This book takes place well after the television series ended. A fun and very entertaining book.

Natalie Teeger is ready to take her Private Investigator exam and finally become a full partner with Mr. Adrian Monk. However, they have a couple of cases they must solve before that can happen.<br /><br />Natalie goes on a retreat to Half Moon Bay where her idol Miranda Bigley is hosting a “Best Possible Me” self-help program. Natalie swears by Miranda’s philosophy but is stunned when Miranda commits suicide at the retreat in front of everyone. Natalie is convinced it wasn’t suicide, but she can’t get anyone to believe her. Not even Monk.<br /><br />Monk has his own problems. The San Francisco police want him to investigate the death of a clown. The problem is – Monk is deathly afraid of anything to do with clowns. However, he has a contract with the SFPD and he must help solve this case, despite his phobia of clowns.<br /><br />Monk and Natalie realize they must help each other solve these crimes. Once they do that, they could become full PI partners.<br /><br />I never watched the TV show Monk (maybe an episode here and there), but I absolutely adored this book! What a pleasant surprise! It’s a light, fun, mystery with characters that I immediately fell in love with. I’m actually surprised that I enjoyed this book so much. It was a quick read for me – I couldn’t put it down! I loved every minute of this book!<br /><br />I plan to not only read more of these books, but to watch the series on DVD, too. I can already tell these are beloved characters.<br /><br />FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved the tv series Monk and was so upset when they cancelled it. You can only imagine how happy I was to learn there was a Monk book series…even though the first book was in 2006, I just recently found out about the series.<br /><br />Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect from the book. I figured it’d be really good since Hy Conrad also wrote for the tv series, but I was really surprised at how much I loved this book. There are so many LOL moments, and all the characters come across just like they did in the show.<br /><br />The best part of the book is that there are two separate murders to investigate. In a twist that I really loved, Natalie saw things that Monk overlooked (obviously because he was in clown shock) in one of the cases, and since no one would take her serious, she decided to investigate that case by herself, and I loved that she wouldn’t back down until they would listen to her.<br /><br />I loved how assertive Natalie was in this book, she gets her P.I. license so she can be a full partner with Monk and not just his assistant. She’s really becoming a vital part of the team.<br /><br />Monk is his same old loveable OCD self, and my two favorite parts were his new toilet, and every place the clown was involved! Hilarious!!<br /><br />I plan on reading the rest of this series, and hope they keep coming. I couldn’t have enjoyed this book more.