Sandra Parshall
Everyone who leaves a comment today will be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Mr. Monk in Trouble by Lee Goldberg.
Two more episodes, and Monk will be TV history. On December 4 we’ll say goodbye to this most unlikely of heroes, a phobic, obsessive-compulsive, self-absorbed, grief-wracked detective who somehow manages to be both lovable and admirable.
When the series started eight years ago, I didn’t think it would last long. Who could bond with a character like Adrian Monk? Who would want to watch him struggle with his demons week after week? I could and would, as it turned out, along with plenty of other people. Tony Shaloub’s unique creation has fascinated, exasperated, amused, and charmed us. The show’s web site caters to a legion of fans with Monk games, an interactive section for those who 
want to try solving the murder of Monk’s wife, a Monk-fan-of-all-time contest, a Monk lookalike contest, quizzes to test your knowledge of the show, an Ask Randy Disher blog, and products such as videos, books, mugs, tee shirts, and hats.
As the show winds down, questions that have tantalized us for eight years are being answered. Last Friday’s episode, in which Monk’s desperate wish to return to the San Francisco Police Department was granted, ended exactly as I knew it would, with Monk realizing that he prefers to work freelance, with Natalie by his side. (Frankly, I’ve always wondered how he made it onto the police force in the first place. I can’t picture him, with his lifelong tics and phobias, getting through police academy training.) The final two episodes will settle the mystery of who killed Trudy. Then it will be over, leaving us with reruns and fond memories.
The episodes that stand out for me are the most poignant, when Monk had to cope with the death of the psychiatrist he relied on and when a Trudy look-alike surfaced to break his heart all over again. I loved those moments when Monk confronted criminals and displayed the tough, resolute cop side we seldom saw. He could subdue a suspect and use a gun when he had to. It was a kick to see Monk go undercover as a surly mob boss. The appearance of John Turturro as Monk’s brother was brilliant. An agoraphobic trapped in his own house with mountains of old newspapers, he made Monk seem well-adjusted by comparison.
I never liked his first assistant, Sharona (Bitty Schram), because I thought she bossed Monk around too much. I’m a big fan of Traylor Howard as Natalie, and now I get irritated with Monk when he mistreats her. Ted Levine as Captain Stottlemeyer is always pitch-perfect, and Jason Gray-Stanford as Lt. Randy Disher is a treat to watch, even when Disher is singing his dreadful songs.
I have a feeling these characters will stay with me. I’m always going to wonder what’s become of them, what they’re doing now. Will Monk’s life change after he solves Trudy’s murder? Will he ever find another love? Will Natalie fall in love, marry, and leave Monk? Will Randy ever get a recording contract? Will Stottlemeyer’s new marriage survive his bride’s fears about his work?
Lee Goldberg, who writes a series of books based on the show, will keep fans going for a while. Lee tells me that after Mr. Monk in Trouble, out in December, at least two additional Monk novels will be published. “I hope there will be more,” Lee says, “because I want to write them.” If you need more Monk after the final show, leave a comment today and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Mr. Monk in Trouble.
What were your favorite Monk moments? Why does Monk appeal to you? Are you surprised the character became so popular and the show lasted so long? And – the burning question – do you prefer Sharona or Natalie?
Sandra Parshall
Maybe you’ve lost your job or expect to soon. Maybe your investments, large or small, are tanking. Maybe your kids don’t understand why they can’t have the expensive electronic playthings they want from Santa. Publishing seems to be headed into a dizzying downward spiral, too, and all over the internet, writers are begging you to buy their new books.
I understand why laying down money for the latest mystery novels might not be a top priority at the moment. But you need them, right? You can’t live without those entertaining tales of mayhem. Sometimes an engrossing book is all that stands between you and total meltdown. (I understand that too.) So I’m offering a batch of books, all of them December releases, to a few lucky readers of PDD.
Look through the list below, then tell me in the comments section which THREE books you’d like to have, in order of preference. Each winner will receive two free books, but naming a third choice will increase your chance of getting something you want. If you enjoy the books, please tell your friends about them. If you don’t win, but a book sounds like just your sort of thing, stop in a book store and treat yourself. You deserve it, don’t you?
DEVIL MAY RIDE, A Ghost Dusters Mystery, by Wendy Roberts – Second in the paranormal mystery series featuring Sadie Novak, a professional crime scene cleaner and amateur medium. Sadie and her sexy partner, Zack, are cleaning up a meth lab when Sadie comes face to face with an evil spirit unlike anything she’s seen before.
DYING FOR DINNER by Miranda Bliss – Annie is leaving her bank job to work full-time as manager of her boyfriend’s restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, VA. But the first day of the rest of her life is the last day of someone else’s, and Annie ends up right in the middle of the excitement. Includes recipes.
DEFENDING ANGELS, A Beaufort & Company Mystery, by Mary Stanton – Ah, Savannah, a city overflowing with charm and ghosts. Literally. While Brianna Winston-Beaufort waits out the renovations on her law office, she rents space in the middle of an all-murderers cemetery, and before long, she’s defending a client in the loftiest venue of all, the Celestial Court. Great setting and a charming heroine.
DYING BY THE SWORD, A Musketeers Mystery, by Sarah D’Almeida – The swashbuckling trio set out to prove Porthos’s servant innocent of killing an armorer, but their sleuthing leads to conflict with Cardinal Richelieu, who is investigating a plot against King Louis XIII. Excellent historical detail.
DEAD MEN DON’T CROCHET by Betty Hechtman – In this followup to Hooked on Murder, Molly Pink and the boisterous Tarzana Hookers join forces to clear one of their members of murdering a snarky yarn shop owner (who probably deserved what she got). Recipe and crochet pattern included.
MR. MONK IS MISERABLE by Lee Goldberg – Natalie serves as Monk’s Dr. Watson, assisting the brilliant detective and telling the stories in Goldberg’s entertaining series of original novels based on the television program. In the latest, the phobic Monk astonishes Natalie by deciding to visit the catacombs of Paris. Among the ancient skeletons, Monk’s sharp eye spots a skull that’s not so old – and bears evidence of murder. A San Francisco connection brings Captain Stottlemeyer and Lt. Disher into the action.
HAIL TO THE CHEF, A White House Chef Mystery, by Julie Hyzy – This series was an instant hit with its first entry, State of the Onion, and the second is equally entertaining. White House Chef Ollie Parsons has plenty to do with the holidays coming up and the First Lady meddling in her romantic life, but she adds murder to her plate when the First Lady’s nephew dies in suspicious circumstances. Recipes for a complete Presidential meal are included, along with lots of details about the inner workings of the nation's First Kitchen.
MRS. MALLORY AND A TIME TO DIE by Hazel Holt – When the quiet English village of Taviscombe is shaken by a series of shocking deaths, Sheila Malory finds herself back in sleuthing mode. Publishers Weekly calls the Mrs. Malory series “the very model of the modern mystery cozy.”
Tell me your choices, and check the end of the comments thread on Thursday to find out if you won!
Sandra Parshall
If you want to start a lively conversation, ask a group of people what they’re most afraid of.
Answers might be hesitant at first, because grown men are a little embarrassed to admit, for example, that they’re afraid of the dark and women might think they’re playing to gender stereotypes by confessing a fear of creepy insects. After one brave soul comes clean, though, the dam will collapse and you’ll hear an astonishing outpouring of secret terrors. This is a gold mine for mystery writers, who can use phobias to add depth to characters and a little something extra to scary scenes.
Most of us start by giving our own fears to our characters. Easy to understand, easy to write. If you’re anything like me, you can harvest from your own phobia collection for a long time before you have to look elsewhere. I’m scared of almost everything. The only times I laugh at Adrian Monk are when he calls for a wipe after shaking hands or compulsively straightens and rearranges objects. I’m not afraid of germs, and if you could see my desk you’d know I’m not a neat freak. In every other way, I’m right there with Monk. Heights, depths, open places, closed places, spiders, deep water, fire, darkness -- they all terrify me. And my fear of failure (clinical name: atychphobia) goes way beyond terror.
My phobias are ordinary, though, common and rarely entertaining. For something exotic that I might afflict on a poor character, I can go to a site like The Phobia List, which offers page after page of clinical and popular names for all the things that freak out humans. Maybe I could work alliumphobia – fear of garlic – into a mystery. But no; that one’s better suited to vampire stories. How about allodoxaphobia, fear of opinions? Don’t we all know somebody who suffers from that and makes everybody around them suffer too? The world is also overpopulated with hedonophobes, those unfortunate souls who are afraid of feeling pleasure.
Some phobias raise baffling questions. How does an otherwise sane person develop aulophobia, fear of flutes? And bolshephobia, fear of Bolsheviks, seems like a big waste of time and psychic energy these days. I can’t even begin to understand bibliophobia, fear of books. How does anyone function with optophobia (fear of opening one’s eyes), or phagophobia (fear of swallowing), or nomatophobia (fear of names), or levophobia (fear of things to the left of the body), or phronemophobia (fear of thinking)?
But back to the question of phobias that can be used in mysteries. Iatrophobia, fear of doctors, is fairly common, but in extreme cases it would make murder by slow poisoning easy, because you could count on the victim not to summon his courage and seek medical care for his weird symptoms. Phasmophobia, fear of ghosts, offers the possibility of scaring somebody to death. Rhytiphobia, fear of developing wrinkles – poisoning again, with the toxin concealed in a face cream that must be applied lavishly. Pteronophobia, fear of being tickled by feathers, is too funny not to use, but offhand I can’t come up with a suitable scenario. (I’ll bet Donna Andrews could.) Any phobia that isolates the victim – and they are too numerous to list – would make the killer’s job easier and lessen the chance of detection.
Give a phobia to your sleuth and you can make it an obstacle that he or she has to overcome in solving the crime. Overdo it and your character may be dismissed as a Monk wannabe – and we know there can only be one Monk.
Two stories that use phobias to great effect are the Hitchcock film Vertigo (heights) and Nevada Barr’s novel Blind Descent (caves, water, darkness, tight spaces – all of which scare me). Lisa Gardner’s new thriller, Say Goodbye, is so loaded with spider stuff that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish it. And one of the creepiest scenes I’ve ever read is in Tess Gerritsen’s The Sinner, when she sends Medical Examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli into a dark attic to investigate strange thumping noises. It’s not that any great violence takes place. It’s the situation that makes me shudder. Will you ever catch me crawling around in a dark attic? I don’t think so.
Okay, I’ve come clean about my innermost fears. Now it’s your turn. What are you afraid of? What books or movies have given you nightmares because they touched on your phobias? In case you’re thinking of moving on without answering, I’d like to point out that I also suffer from severe athazagoraphobia – fear of being ignored.
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