Monk

Working as a private investigator, Monk visits a crime scene to investigate the murder of Nicole Vasquez. He finds a number of significant clues, but is not yet sure of the identity of the murderer. Later, shots ring out at a campaign rally, and San Francisco mayoral candidate Warren St. Clair's bodyguard is killed.

When former San Francisco Police Commissioner Harry Ashcombe puts out a call to help locate his "missing" wife, Monk and Sharona volunteer their assistance. But no sooner than they are on the case when the body of Mrs. Ashcombe is discovered by the notorious quack psychic Dolly Flint, who claims she was led to the body in a psychic trance. After attending the late Mrs.

San Francisco judge Catherine Lavinio places a frantic call to 911: there's an intruder in the house trying to kill her! As the 911 operators rush to dispatch a unit to the scene, the call is cut off, and Judge Lavinio is later found dead. The cops' prime suspect is 800-pound tycoon Dale J. Biederbeck III (Adam Arkin), a.k.a. "Dale The Whale.

Hotheaded police detective Adam Kirk agrees to meet a mysterious informant named John Gitomer on a moving Ferris wheel high above a local carnival. Moments after the ride begins to move, however, Gitomer starts screaming in agony. The Ferris wheel operator brings the ride to a halt, Detective Kirk leaps out, and he turns to find Gitomer with a knife in his heart.

A confused Monk is found trespassing in the home of his late wife, Trudy, and is sent to the Medford Psychiatric Institute for observation. Monk meets the hospital's brilliant director, Dr. Morris Lancaster, as well as fellow patients John Wurster (Kevin Nealon) - an overly empathic, Zelig-type ("I'm a detective too!") -and Manny, a man in his thirties who still believes in Santa Claus.

Sidney Teal appears to have it all: his own software company, billions of dollars, a beautiful wife, and a beautiful home. But all is not as it seems. One night, Sidney drives to a movie theater and waits in the shadows.

As attorney Lou Pratt finishes his day's work, a shadowy figure creeps into his office, kills the luckless attorney, then removes and burns a file from the file room. It's not long before Monk is called in to assist with the investigation. The prime suspect: Lawrence Grayson, the client whose file was burned in Pratt's office.

Monk knows arrogant local furniture magnate Trevor McDowell threw his young mistress, Gwen Zaleski, off her 21st-story balcony. Trouble is, McDowell was across town running in a citywide marathon at the time of the murder. His alibi is perfect: the runners were tracked by microchips secured to their shoelaces during the race, and the computer shows McDowell ran the full 26 miles.

Sharona drags a reluctant Monk to a vacation resort down the California coast. His sojourn is quickly interrupted when Sharona's son, Benjy, witnesses the murder of a woman in one of the rooms through a sightseeing telescope. The hotel's gung-ho security chief quickly puts the hotel on lockdown. Benjy?s murder sighting soon appears to be a false alarm, but Monk still believes in his young witness.

When a minor earthquake rocks San Francisco, trophy wife Christina Rutherford seizes the opportunity to bludgeon her husband Henry to death with a handy marble statue. Afterwards, she topples a huge wooden display case onto his body so it will appear he died during the earthquake. It's a crime of opportunity. A perfect murder. Or so Christina thinks.

An angry Willie Nelson accuses his road manager, Sonny Cross, of embezzlement just hours before making a San Francisco radio appearance. Sonny later arrives at the radio station to find a note summoning him to a side entrance. As Sonny disappears down an alley, two shots ring out. An engineer throws open the side door to find a blind woman, Mrs.

Sharona blindsides Monk by announcing she is going to be flying to New Jersey to visit her Aunt Minn. The notion of going a whole week without her forces our obsessive compulsive hero to (gulp) swallow his paralyzing fear of airplanes and accompany her on the trip. At the airport, Monk notices a handsome married couple, the Chabrols, tenderly kissing. What he doesn't see is Mrs.