Monk and Natalie return from helping Randy in Summit to find their lives in San Francisco have fallen into a mess in the meantime. Natalie discovers a dead woman in her bathtub, and the situation only worsens when money from the FBI evidence room turns up under her mattress. Meanwhile, Monk's brother Ambrose desperately tries to get him to look into the disappearance of his girlfriend Yuki, a case Monk would rather not take. What secrets are behind all these baffling cases, and can Monk and Natalie clean up the mess before anyone else gets hurt?
This book contains examples of the following tropes:
- Beneath Suspicion: The mailman turns out to have been living in Natalie's house (and the houses of several other people who were out of town) to keep away from the eyes of anyone who might be looking for the stolen money.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Derek Thorpe acts as a major thorn in Monk and Natalie's sides once they're accused, and Natalie talks to the keeper of the FBI evidence room, Agent Nesbo, while trying to clear their names. Thorpe turns out to have committed the theft, and he had an affair with Agent Nesbo to get access to the evidence room.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Yuki once stole money from a large, corrupt corporation (to distribute to humanitarian efforts) and killed one of their agents by accident. Her subplot involves her past coming back to haunt her.
- Face–Heel Turn: Derek Thorpe, the FBI agent from "Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy", was merely antagonistic in the episode but returns as one of the main villains. As it turns out, getting shown up by Monk in that episode was the beginning of a career downslide for him, which led to him stealing money from the FBI evidence locker room—and killing an innocent man named Jeroen Berge, who caught him looking for it.
- Frying Pan of Doom:
- Ironic Echo: After Special Agent Cardea scolds him for making him and the FBI look bad, Derek Thorpe calls him a clown. Seconds later, when Thorpe protests Natalie, an officer from a podunk town, handcuffing him rather than a federal agent, Cardea declines, saying that he's just a clown.
- Mistaken for Suicidal: After a rough day full of instances of his world being shaken, Monk gulps down the remainder of a bottle of allergy pills in the victim's house. Lt. Devlin nearly tries to force him to vomit them back out, and Stottlemeyer tries to tell him that overdosing is not the answer to his problems. It turns out Monk swallowed them to prove his assertion that the victim's pharmacist killed him — he knew they were placebos.
- Not So Above It All: Natalie can't resist sitting in an ultra-comfy chair a victim owned. It turns out that Stottlemeyer and Lt. Devlin couldn't either, and even Cardea gets sidetracked when it comes up during the summation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- When Ambrose calls Natalie to ask her to get his brother on the case, she knows something is wrong because he rushes into the conversation without the common social niceties, and Ambrose is never rude.
- When Natalie, Monk, and Lt. Devlin finally bring Yuki home, Ambrose (who is agoraphobic) rushes out of the house to meet her.
- Post-Injury Desk Job: Agent Nesbo received the position of keeper of the evidence room after she suffered a knee injury on the job. Monk points this out when Thorpe tries to cast suspicion on her.
- Revenge Before Reason: Lt. Devlin points out that if Juanita Banana had simply let it go when Yuki was sent to prison, rather than trying to make an example of her for any future activists, they would have escaped a lot of damage. Instead, they lose money chasing her for years and get some of their agents who tried to abduct her busted by Monk and Natalie, which Devlin expects will cost them big time.
