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 makes 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. ( )

First off, I should say I never saw the TV series, and never even heard of it, before coming across the books.

This sounded like a series I would like, but it failed in both the humor and the story departments. I kept going past 50%, hoping it would pick up, but it was mostly just descriptions of Mr. Monk's odd behavior, which I thought was overdone, and his flashes of intuition that were close to wild guesses with little evidence that were quickly accepted due to his reputation for always being right. They boldly confronted the suspected killer halfway through the story with nothing more than circumstantial evidence full of holes that any lawyer could shoot through. It seems like he just comes up with a possible scenario, which may be a good theory, but everyone treats his theories as fact.

So, I thought it was mainly just making fun of an obsessive-compulsive detective who is too pushy about inflicting his various idiosyncrasies on others. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes mildly humorous, but to me, it got boring pretty quick.

The only interesting thing to me is that it takes place in San Francisco around the time I worked there, and it was fun to read about familiar little things I've forgotten about, like the SF Chronicle's pink section that I used to like to read, with the movie review icons of a little man either sleeping, watching, or excitedly clapping. ( )

Mr. Monk is hired to solve the mystery of the death of the local firehouse dog on the same night as a fatal house fire. The first book based on the TV series.

When the local firehouse dog is found murdered, Natalie's twelve year-old daughter is so upset that she asks Natalie's boss, San Francisco's consulting detective Adrian Monk, to investigate. There's no doubt the dog was murdered, and it happened while the entire crew was working on a house fire in which the resident died. Well, Monk just has to investigate that too, and learns that the whole street is overjoyed that the nosy old lady is dead, because she was the one keeping them from a huge payday. Which means there are lots of people with motives.
The first of the Monk novels, he's as funny and aggravating as you'd find in the tv series. ( )

Someone murdered Sparky, the Firehouse Dog and Monk is on the trail of the murderer. Along the way, the deaths of elderly Esther Stoval and a homeless man play into the story. As readers will expect, Monk, his OCD foibles firmly intact, works his way through the twist and turns to identify the murderer . . . or murderers. Fans of the television series will find much to appreciate here in this hilarious, quick read tale. ( )