Plot Synopsis
Captain Stottlemeyer calls Adrian Monk to his office for some important news. Monk assumes the worst, but the news is actually positive. After twelve years, Monk's wish of being reinstated to the police force has been fulfilled.
Monk is nervous and excited for his first day back. As Natalie sends Monk off to work, she reveals that she has an interview for a glamorous job with a concert promoter. As Monk and Natalie say goodbye, Monk laments that this could be the end of their partnership.
At police headquarters, Monk receives a warm welcome from his fellow officers. Stottlemeyer has even arranged for Monk to sit at the same desk he used years before. Monk is disappointed to learn, hoewever, that he’s been relegated to desk duty in the case of the Pick Axe Killer, the department’s hottest case. Later that day, Officer Russell DiMarco, a colleague of Monk's, bursts in to the office announcing that the Pick Axe Killer has been arrested. A window washer named Manny Alvarez saw someone matching the killer’s description and tipped off the police. It’s great news, but Monk is a little disappointed that the case was solved without his help.
A week later, Natalie is enjoying her exciting new job in the music business, and Monk has left his desk job to begin working with a new partner, Detective Doyle. Monk has suspicions about Manny Alvarez’s story, so he takes a break from his work with Doyle to investigate the location where Manny claimed that he had "spotted" the Pick Axe Killer. Monk quickly establishes that it would have been impossible for Manny to see the killer from that vantage point. Although Monk shares this information with his superiors, no one wants to entertain any theories that might interfere with the successful closure of a highly-publicized case, especially since the man who was arrested on Manny Alvarez's tip confessed to being the Pick Axe Killer.
That night, Officer DiMarco is on his way home and meets with a mysterious informant. After DiMarco receives his payoff, the informant shoots him dead.
The police believe that Russell DiMarco saw something going down on his way home, tried to intervene, and was killed. But Monk suspects that DiMarco may have been murdered while receiving some kind of illegal payoff. Monk’s theory makes him a pariah, as cops are supposed to protect the reputations of their brethren. If Monk has any hope of surviving in his new job, he needs to back up his accusations against Officer DiMarco. When Monk comes across Officer DiMarco’s ticket book, he finds the evidence he needs to prove his theory and arrest Manny Alvarez for the murder.
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“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
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