Mr.

Monk Is Miserable
Mr. Monk is Miserable is the seventh novel in the Monk mystery
book series by writer Lee Goldberg. It was published on December Mr. Monk is Miserable
2, 2008.

Contents
Plot summary
Plot Synopsis
Here's What Happened
Characters
Characters from the television show
Original Characters
External links

Plot summary
1st edition 2008 hardback cover
Natalie wants a break so she blackmails Monk in going to Paris,
France. While in Paris, Monk surprises Natalie by telling her he Author Lee Goldberg
wants to check out the sewers because the underground maze of Country United States
tunnels and pipes is famous for keeping Paris sanitary. While
Language English
traveling the mazes of the sewers, the two stumble upon the
catacombs, which are filled with aging skulls and bones. When Series Monk mystery novel
Monk spots a skull that is not so old that shows evidence of murder, series
the pair's vacation plans are once again put aside so Monk can Genre Mystery novel
conduct a murder investigation.
Publisher Signet Books
Publication
Plot Synopsis date
December 2, 2008

Media type Print (hardcover)

Having agreed (or rather, been blackmailed) to stop over in Paris,
France at the conclusion of their last case in Germany, Adrian Monk Pages 288 pp
accompanies Natalie Teeger for a few days in the City of Lights. ISBN 0-451-22515-5
They decide to travel there from Lohr by flying (despite Monk
having a fear of flying). While they are on the flight, another man OCLC 213308710 (https://w
dies from a severe allergic reaction to peanut oil, and Monk figures ww.worldcat.org/oclc/
he was murdered, and is able to expose one of the flight attendants 213308710)
as the killer. Dewey 813/.54 22
Decimal
When their plane arrives in Paris, Monk and Natalie get taken into a
LC Class PS3557.O3577 M78
separate room to be questioned about what they saw during the
2008
incident. The chief prefecture of the Paris police, Inspector Phillipe
Le Roux, immediately recognizes Monk as the man who solved a Preceded by Mr. Monk Goes to
Germany
homicide in Paris by merely reading an article in a San Francisco Followed by Mr. Monk and the
newspaper. During their first night, Monk is able to point out the Dirty Cop
things that suggest that Natalie has been in Paris before, with Mitch.

Natalie is full of plans for things she wants to see, but Monk surprises her with his own desire: visiting the
Paris Sewer Museum. She's always thought that Monk would rather die than go down a sewer, but Monk
says that the Paris sewers were the first of their kind, and helped make the city a pioneer of sanitation in
Europe - an achievement that actually might be worth considering paying tribute to.

After travelling through the maze that is the sewer system, our duo enters the Paris Catacombs, a massive
ossuary for the city's long-dead residents. But among them, Monk spots a skull that is not so old, and
concludes that it belongs to someone who hasn't been dead for as long a time as everyone else whose
skeletons line the catacombs.

At first, Natalie refuses to perform her assistant duties, and demands that Monk let her enjoy her vacation;
and the next day, she drags him to dinner in a novelty restaurant called Toujours Nuit ("Always Night") -
because the dining room is always kept in total blackness, and all the waiters are blind. Natalie tries to ease
Monk into the experience by reminding him of the time when he was blinded by a firefighter's killer. During
the dinner, a young woman who calls herself Sandrine appears mysteriously beside Monk and says she can
tell him who the murdered man was. Before she can go further, there is an unusual noise, and the lights
come up to show that the woman, whose real name is Aimee Dupon, has been stabbed to death with a steak
knife. Natalie cannot help it - they are smack in the middle of the investigation. Monk is left with one
unsolved question - how did the killer get in or out of the restaurant without being seen?

When Monk does an over-the-phone session with Dr. Kroger, Dr. Kroger asks to speak with Natalie. Over
the phone, Dr. Kroger reprimands Natalie for her refusal to help Monk with these homicides. Natalie insists
that she just wants to have a vacation, but Dr. Kroger points out that what she is using is something called
emotional blackmail - essentially, she is attempting to make Monk someone he is not. Monk's detective
abilities are what help him identify himself in the world. His need to detect is not something that Natalie is
going to be able to change. She can't blame Monk for being the person he always has been. She'll have to
find some form of a compromise between them or they'll both have a very long day.

Monk and Natalie go to the police station later that night, and are surprised to see Captain Stottlemeyer and
Lieutenant Disher waiting for them, having flown in overnight from San Francisco. The skull that Monk
found in the catacombs has been identified through dental records as belonging to Nathan Chalmers, a
notorious con artist back in the States, the architect of a massive Ponzi scheme whose victims included
many of California's wealthiest and brightest. It was believed that he committed suicide ten years ago, but
the skull has been proven to be Chalmers, and proves that he faked his death and escaped to Europe - a case
embarrassing enough to send the two American detectives to Paris on the Commissioner's orders, so as to do
damage control.

From what the Paris Inspectors have learned from Natalie's and Monk's statements, they have found video
surveillance tapes showing that Aimee followed them around town for several hours before she was killed.
They question her former employer at a publishing company. The publisher says that Aimee quit in protest
after the company rejected a graphic novel submitted by her lover, Antoine Bisson, a freelance artist. Bisson,
it seems, enjoys exploring Paris's underground community, and his novel featured a romanticized portrait of
a Freegan community that occupies condemned buildings and the tunnels. As part of their stand against
consumerism, they do not hold jobs and instead subsist on food and other wares salvaged from other
people's garbage. Bisson, disgusted, admits during questioning that Aimee was carried away by the romance
and decided to join the community, ignoring its grittier reality.
Their next person of interest is Lucien Barlier, the charismatic leader of the underground Freegans. He
claims that Chalmers, under the assumed name of "Bob Smith," joined the Freegan community, and
encouraged several of the Freegans who looked up to Barlier to "break away" and follow him in actively
punishing consumerists instead of just living off their refuse. Stottlemeyer later discovers that, for Bob
Smith/Nathan Chalmers, this meant committing identity theft with papers salvaged from peoples' trash cans,
and stealing thousands, perhaps millions, of euros. Aimee, it seems, left Barlier to go with Chalmers.

It seems obvious that whoever killed Chalmers also killed Aimee, to silence her. Barlier says he didn't
commit either crime, but Monk is sure that any man who lives in a sewer and eats other people's garbage has
to be insane, not to mention guilty. Natalie, however, is charmed into accepting a dinner date with him.

In the middle of their date, in Barlier's underground "lair," Monk and the detectives burst in, led there by
Antoine Bisson, and arrest him for the murder of Aimee Dupon. Evidence found in the restaurant connects
Barlier's lair with clues found in the restaurant.

Natalie protests, remembering that they have all overlooked one important point, but Monk is one step ahead
of her, as always. It turns out that Barlier's arrest is just a trap to catch Antoine Bisson, the real killer.

Here's What Happened

The detectives head to Antoine Bisson's studio, and find that Bisson has made a painting of a chipped plate.
Monk recognizes the plate as one he had thrown out when he went to Toujours Nuit, and on that cue, the
police bring in the original plate, salvaged from the trash.

Monk reveals that Bisson killed Chalmers for taking Aimee away from him, intending to frame Barlier for
the crime. However, after the skull was discovered, Aimee recognized it as being Chalmers's skull, and also
realized that as Barlier would never resort to violence, Bisson had to be the real killer. He killed her to stop
her from confessing. By leading Monk and the other detectives to Lucien's home in the labyrinth of the
sewers, Bisson has confirmed that he knew the way there, and thus proven that he planted the evidence there
and at the crime scene to frame Barlier.

Bisson says there's no proof, but Monk reveals that Toujours Nuit was a dark place. The killer had to be able
to see in the dark, and Bisson owns a set of night vision goggles for his sojourns into the sewers, which
Barlier does not.

Bisson confesses, and then, in true Gallic fashion, chooses to jump to his death out of guilt for killing the
woman he loved. Barlier is exonerated, and he and Natalie spend a romantic day above ground around the
city.

Meanwhile, between solving two murders, and getting to drive a motocrotte (a motorcycle retrofitted to
clean dog droppings off the streets) during his off-time, Monk is a happy man, and admits that their enforced
French vacation has had its points of success.

Characters

Characters from the television show

Adrian Monk: the titular detective, played on the television series by Tony Shalhoub;
Natalie Teeger: Monk's loyal assistant, and the narrator of the book; played on the series by
Traylor Howard;
Dr. Charles Kroger: Monk's psychiatrist; played on the series by Stanley Kamel;
 Captain Leland Stottlemeyer: Captain of the San Francisco Police Department's Homicide
Division; Monk's oldest friend and former partner; played on the series by Ted Levine;
Lieutenant Randy Disher: Stottlemeyer's right-hand man, played on the series by Jason
Gray-Stanford;
Julie Teeger: (mentioned only) Natalie's teenaged daughter; played on the series by Emmy
Clarke;

Original Characters
Chief Inspector Phillipe Le Roux: Chief of the homicide division of the Paris Prefecture of
Police;
Inspector Guy Gadois: Le Roux's right-hand man;
Aimee Dupon: Murder victim #2;
Laura Boucher: Senior editor at the publishing company where Dupon worked;
Antoine Bisson: Freelance artist and author, Aimee's former lover;
Lucien Barlier: Leader of an underground community of Freegans, who live on society's
waste;
Pierre: Motocrotte driver;
Nathan Chalmers: Murder victim #1;

External links
Official Monk Site (http://www.usanetwork.com/series/monk/)

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