History Literature / MrMonkGoesToTheFirehouse

* CrimeAfterCrime: Lucas Breen kills Esther Stoval by suffocating her with a pillow, then burns down her house. But he leaves his overcoat behind (he brought the overcoat because it was raining when he slipped out of the party he was supposed to be at when he committed the murder), and he fears that the police will find it if it survives the blaze, because it has monogrammed buttons with his initials. He goes to the nearest firehouse, where he is surprised and forced to kill a Dalmatian to steal a firefighter's protected gear. Though this allows Breen to get his overcoat back, he gets mugged shortly after returning the stolen gear to the firehouse. The coat is too burned to be usable, so he tosses it in a dumpster to dispose of it. However, a homeless man happens to grab it that same night. When Monk, Natalie and Stottlemeyer are confronting Breen and accusing him of Esther's murder, Breen happens to see the homeless man wearing the overcoat that used to be his own. So a few days later, Breen tracks the man down, beats him to death with a brick, and then takes the overcoat back, and burns it in his home fireplace.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Breen is best pals with the Mayor and with the Governor, who were at the fundraiser that acted as his alibi.

* AccidentalAimingSkills: Disher shoots the killer's gun out of his hand, then admits he was aiming for his chest.
* AffablyEvil: Played with. Mrs. Throphamner, Julie's babysitter, is revealed in the ending to have murdered her husband for infidelity. But one wouldn't know, as she acts rather mild-mannered and sweet, and even expresses guilt over the murder. Monk even points out that she's a rather dependable babysitter. Natalie, on the other hand, is unamused that Monk allowed a murderer to babysit Julie, even if she didn't harm a hair on her head.
* AssholeVictim: Esther Stoval isn't really all that missed by any of her neighbors. She was a miserable woman who spied on her neighbors and snitched on them for things that were none of her business. Eventually, Breen took her out because she threatened to tell his wife about his affair with Lizzie Draper, and also so he could get rid of one last obstacle to his planned redevelopment.

* BittersweetEnding: Lucas Breen has been arrested, Sparky has been avenged, and Julie is grateful to Monk for solving the case. But Natalie breaks up with Firefighter Joe, as she recognizes that despite his amazing personality, she doesn't want to risk going through the heartache of watching a man she loves endanger himself on a regular basis.

* CrimeAfterCrime: Lucas Breen kills an elderly woman named Esther Stoval by suffocating her with a pillow, then sets her house on fire. But he leaves his overcoat behind (he brought the overcoat because it was raining when he snuck out of the party he was supposed to be at when he committed the murder), and he fears that the police will find it if it survives the blaze, because it has monogrammed buttons with his initials. He goes to the nearest firehouse, where he is surprised and forced to kill a Dalmatian named Sparky to get the firefighter's coat and gear. Though this allows Breen to get his overcoat back, he gets mugged shortly after returning the stolen gear to the firehouse. The coat is too burned to be usable, so he tosses it in a dumpster to dispose of it. However, a homeless man happens to grab it that same night. When Monk, Natalie and Stottlemeyer are confronting Breen and accusing him of Esther Stoval's murder, Breen happens to see the homeless man wearing the overcoat that used to be his own. So a few days later, Breen tracks the man down, bashes his head in with a brick, and then takes the overcoat back, and burns it in his home fireplace.

* DisabilityAlibi: Downplayed, but Monk dismisses Gregorio Dumas as a suspect due to how he's too fat and out-of-shape to have outrun Sparky the firehouse dog long enough to have reached the murder weapon.
* EverybodyHasStandards: Lucas Breen's secretary is every bit as smug and smarmy as her boss, and even takes sadistic pleasure at the idea of Stottelmeyer and Natalie groveling at her boss's feet to apologize. She even [[{{Jerkass}} deliberately impedes our heroes]] when they try to catch him. But when Breen takes out a gun and threatens to kill Monk, she's mortified at the spectacle.

* HiddenDisdainReveal: Inverted. Gregorio Dumas is a sleazy man who is filing a FrivolousLawsuit against the fire department and insults Sparky, the dead Dalmatian who impregnated his show dog. However, Monk busts him, Dumas admits that he actually liked Sparky a lot, didn't mind Sparky having sex with his dog, and only pretended to hate Sparky to make his lawsuit more convincing.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Natalie's take on Esther Stovel and her neighbors is initially a hit-and-a-miss. She thinks that regardless of Esther's reasons for not selling her house, she's just a lonely old woman who kept the house out of sentimental reasons, while her neighbors are heartless for celebrating her death (and the money they're being paid to move out). But as she and Monk interview more and more of the neighbors, she steadily realizes she may have judged them too harshly, and Esther Stovel's death wasn't entirely undeserved.

* ImprovisedWeapon: Monk uses a pair of sourdough bowls filled with clam chowder to splatter Breen's windshield as he tries to escape, causing him to crash. Stottlemeyer says he can't wait [[ARareSentence to put the method in the report.]]

* PhoneInDetective: Monk solves almost a dozen open cases just by glancing at the files on Disher's desk.

* PoseOfSupplication: Natalie and Stottlemeyer pretend to do this to make the BigBad let his guard down after [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections he sics his high-profile friends on them.]] According to his secretary, the guy loves it when people beg him for mercy in relation to business dealings.

* SexyShirtSwitch: When Monk and Natalie are questioning Lizzie Draper, she's wearing a shirt with monogrammed buttons. Monk realizes later it's one of Lucas Breen's, left behind from one of his trysts with her.

--> '''Monk:''' Here's another answer. ''To wipe your footprints off the firehouse floor.'' Can you tell me the question? You aren't even trying, Mr. Dumas.
--> '''Dumas:''' I am, [[BlatantLies I just don't know the question.]] The answer makes no sense.
--> '''Natalie:''' I know, I know.
--> '''Monk:''' Yes, Natalie, what's your guess?
--> '''Natalie:''' Why did Mr. Dumas steal the towels?
--> '''Monk:''' Correct ...Natalie is winning this round, Mr. Dumas. Your going to have to guess the right question to this answer to say in the game. Here it it: ''Fifteen years in prison.''
--> '''Dumas:''' What the hell are you talking about?
--> '''Monk:''' No, I'm sorry, the correct answer is: What's the combined jail term for filing a fraudulent lawsuit and committing an extreme act of animal cruelty.

* SuddenDownerEnding: Played for laughs. As Monk prepared to move back home, he informs Stottlemeyer that Mrs. Throphamner, Julie's babysitter, is actually a murderer and he'd known about it for some time but chose to sit on the information because the evidence wasn't going anywhere and he was busy with the main plot of the book. Natalie is understandably infuriated that Monk was willing to leave her daughter in the care of someone so dangerous and storms off.
* TerrifiedOfGerms: After Natalie looks into a dumpster where an overcoat may or may not have been dumped, it takes her a while to talk Monk out of calling a Hazmat team to decontaminate her, but still she has to do some extensive cleaning to convince Monk that she isn't infected.

* WorkingTheSameCase: Monk and Natalie stop by a North Beach firehouse to investigate the death of Sparky, a beloved firehouse dalmatian bludgeoned with a pick-axe during an apparent break-in. They also stop by a nearby house fire in which a 64 year old woman named Esther Stoval was killed. Monk deduces that Esther's death was actually a FieryCoverup. Her house, we learn, was one of several scheduled for demolition for a new condo complex. When Monk, Natalie and Stottlemeyer question Lucas Breen, the developer, Monk immediately pegs him as Esther's killer. After Monk and Natalie re-question a dog-loving witness who saw a man dressed as a firefighter leaving the firehouse after Sparky was killed, Monk deduces that Breen also killed Sparky: Breen went to Esther's house, killed her, and set the house on fire, but he left his overcoat behind as he fled. He went to the firehouse to get a coat and helmet so he could sneak into the fire and recover it without emergency crews noticing him. He didn't expect the dog, and was forced to kill him with an axe.

* AffablyEvil: Played with. Mrs. Throphamner, Julie's babysitter, is revealed in the ending to have murdered her husband for infidelity. But one wouldn't know, as she acts rather mild-mannered and sweet, and even expresses guilt over the murder. Monk even points out that she's a rather dependable babysitter. Natalie, on the other hand, begs to differ, as she can't forgive that someone who murdered once before could've murdered again.

* NeverTheObviousSuspect: Monk and Natalie suspect that Breen, who sits on the San Francisco Police Commission, is responsible for a string of crimes including murder and arson. While Stottlemeyer is convinced of Breen's guilt as well, Monk's investigative tactics lead Breen to accuse them of harassment, making their effort to build a case against him that much harder. Questioning Breen again, this time for killing a homeless man, causes Stottlemeyer to get officially reprimanded by the chief, with the notice to appear at an IAB hearing and explain himself, thus risking a demotion.

* RealityEnsues: Monk and Natalie suspect that Breen, who sits on the San Francisco Police Commission, is responsible for a string of crimes including murder and arson. While Stottlemeyer is convinced of Breen's guilt as well, Monk's investigative tactics lead Breen to accuse them of harassment, making their effort to build a case against him that much harder. Questioning Breen again, this time for killing a homeless man, causes Stottlemeyer to get officially reprimanded by the chief, with the notice to appear at an IAB hearing and explain himself, thus risking a demotion.

* AssholeVictim: Esther Stoval isn't really all that missed by any of her neighbors. She was a miserable woman who spied on her neighbors and snitched on them for things that were none of her business. She also was in the way of Breen's planned redevelopment of the block.

* SexyShirtSwitch: When Monk and Natalie are questioning Lizzie Draper, she's wearing a shirt with monogrammed buttons. Monk realizes later it's one of Breen's, left behind from one of his trysts with her.

* ShootingItOutOfTheirHands: Randy shoots Breen's hand as he takes aim at Monk. He mentions afterwards it was [[AccidentalAimingSkills an accident]]; he actually intended to hit Breen in the torso.

* RealityEnsues: Monk and Natalie suspect that real estate developer Lucas Breen, a member of the San Francisco Police Commission, is responsible for killing an elderly woman, burning down her house, and killing a dog at a nearby firehouse. While Stottlemeyer is convinced of Breen's guilt as well, Monk's investigative tactics lead Breen to accuse them of harassment, making their effort to build a case against him that much harder. Questioning Breen again, this time for killing a homeless man, causes Stottlemeyer to get officially reprimanded by the chief, with the notice to appear at an IAB hearing and explain himself, thus risking a demotion.

* DisproportionateRetribution: After Natalie looks into a dumpster where an overcoat may or may not have been dumped, it takes her a while to talk Monk out of calling a Hazmat team to decontaminate her, but still she has to do some extensive cleaning to convince Monk that she isn't infected.