This book operates as the second half of a pair, with the previous book in the series, Mr Monk Goes to Germany (2008), which I read earlier this month. Due to this link between them I decided to read them close together. Mr Monk is Miserable is predominantly set in Paris, and I was curious to see what Adrian Monk gets up to. Given what I know of his personality, I was therefore surprised when the author mentions in the acknowledgements that he found Paris Sewers and Sewermen by Donald Reid ‘extremely helpful in’ his ‘research’! I wondered what perils awaited poor Mr Monk!
Synopsis
‘Adrian Monk and his assistant Natalie are in Paris, touring the shadowy catacombs that wind beneath the city streets, lined with millions of centuries-old human bones. Of course, Monk notices one particular skull, declaring that the person was killed recently. With the delights of Paris overshadowed by murder, Monk will have to think fast-and see in the dark-if he’s going to catch a cunning killer.’
Overall Thoughts
The opening of the mystery is ideal for those unfamiliar with the series, as it sums up Adrian Monk as a person and what it is like for his assistant Natalie Teeger to take care of him, and in keeping with the rest of the series, the story is told from her point of view. The beginning of the book also fills readers in, on the background to why Natalie and her boss are in Europe. As expected, getting Mr Monk on to a plane to travel from Germany to Paris is a trial for everyone, and it goes without saying that someone is murdered during the flight (putting me in mind of the episode from the Monk TV series, ‘Mr Monk and the Airplane’). This is a mini mystery for Adrian to solve, allowing him to dazzle us with his detecting skills and it also gives him and Natalie an opportunity to meet some French police officers who they will meet up with again in Paris.
I would say the first 100 pages of the novel are focused on establishing Monk and Natalie in Paris and through Natalie we get to see the French capital through a tourist’s eyes, in particular a tourist who visited the city many years ago with their now deceased husband. However, Natalie is not initially very impressed with how the city has changed in her absence:
‘I turned to admire the Arc de Triomphe but I was immediately distracted by the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The tower was decorated with blinking multicoloured lights like an enormous Christmas tree. How could the Parisians have let this happen? It was one thing to accentuate the power of a structure with dramatic lighting, as they had done with the Arc de Triomphe. But wrapping the Eiffel Tower in blinking lights made it look cheap, crass, and gaudy – a commercial come-on rather than a powerful icon and historical landmark.’
When I first started this series, I felt there was a sharpness to Natalie’s narrative voice, but in the subsequent books I have read, it has been easy to forget how Natalie’s voice can have some bite it. Not so in this story, and in this particular part of the book, I did wonder if her criticism goes over the top:
‘It was like seeing an elegant, refined, and educated woman of mystery and natural beauty wearing a low-cut dress and short skirt to show off her horrible breast implants. What other horrors awaited me?’
Perhaps this type of description felt excessive because there is not a lot happening plot-wise in the first 100 pages. Perhaps the intended humour came across as forced?
Nevertheless, I did enjoy how Adrian Monk uncovers an unknown murder case in the Paris Catacombs. You know it is coming, but you just don’t know how or when it will happen. I also liked how the reveal was not done in a gory fashion and instead is an opportunity for Monk to display his acute observational skills. Further death follows and I think Goldberg chooses a very interesting second location for murder, which presents unusual and perhaps even unique investigative challenges. Another joy of this book are the two French policemen: Chief Inspector Le Roux and Inspector Gadois, who Monk and Natalie team up with, as they mimic the dynamic between Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher who Monk normally works with back home.
Although Monk is keen as mustard to dive into solving the Catacomb case, Natalie is fed up that another murder has occurred on one of their holidays. Naturally, Adrian can’t appreciate this, which causes some tension at the start of the investigation:
‘“Do you really think you can discover Paris by taking walks, eating in restaurants, visiting museums, going to theatres, and seeing all the historical sites?”
“Yes, I do.”
“There’s no better way to discover Paris, its culture, and its people than through a murder investigation. You’ll see the city and its people laid bare. You’ll go where the tourists never go. You’ll see what life here is really like.”
“It’s a shame everybody can’t enjoy a good murder when they come to Paris.”
“We’re the lucky one,” Monk said.
Obviously, my sarcasm was lost on him.’
As you can see these moments of friction and misunderstanding are invariably a source of humour for the reader.
Whilst Monk ultimately gets his way, and has Natalie’s support in solving the case, we still get occasions when Natalie reflects on the psychological impact of assisting a detective:
‘I’d forgotten what it was like to go a week without seeing a dead body or questioning people about where they were at the time of the murder and what their relationship was to the victim. I bet he had too. There was actually a time in my life when death wasn’t following me around wherever I went. That time ended when I met Mr Monk.’
I think this story operates more as a thriller in which Monk detects, rather than as a more traditionally structured detective mystery and it did seem like a lot of the solution hinged upon one piece of evidence. Looking at the book as a whole I think the first third needed trimming, as there is a long build up towards the first murder, involving holiday and travel antics. Whilst these were entertaining, I feel like they cut down space which could have been devoted to the investigation instead.
Rating: 3.75/5