After solving two San Francisco murders in typical Adrian Monk fashion, the detective decides to do something special for his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose, who has not left his house in over 30 years. After lacing his slice of birthday cake with sleeping pills, Adrian and his assistant, Natalie Teeger, carry Ambrose into an RV that Adrian had rented with the intention of taking Ambrose on a tour of California then out to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas–with Natalie as the designated driver, of course.

Understandably, Ambrose is at first furious over being abducted from his home, but begins to relax as the trip progresses. He marvels at the sights and sounds of the outside world. During their travels, the trio encounter two murders that naturally intrigue Adrian, but he is reluctantly dissuaded by Natalie from participating in their investigation. They are on vacation, after all. Along the way, they meet several interesting characters in various trailer parks and are nearly run off the road by an enraged tractor trailer driver.

It isn’t until they reach Vegas that Detective Monk has an epiphany and realizes that all of the events and people they’ve encountered have a deadly connection…

This story takes place after the end of the television series and the events of the final episode are summed up in the first chapter. If you have never seen the final episode, you may wonder what on Earth would inspire Adrian Monk, a man whose phobias are surpassed only by his brother’s, to take a sightseeing tour in an RV. Well, let’s just say that both Detective Monk and his brother has overcome some of their fears, have loosened up a little, and realized there is more to life than solving puzzles and disinfecting everything in sight–except for the RV’s bathroom and dinette table, of course.

Hats off to Lee Goldberg for yet anothe marvelous Monk mystery. I’ve read about six of his Monk novels to date and have never been disappointed.