History Literature / MrMonkIsMiserable

** Inspector Le Roux mentions the murder in France that Monk solved by reading a newspaper article about the case in "Mr. Monk and the Paperboy."

* GayParee: Played with. Natalie expects to eat croissants and whatnot while enjoying the rustic splendor of the city. As soon as she sees the lights on the Eiffel Tower, and the [[FerrisWheelOfDoom Roue de Paris]], and the Arc de Triomphe merely because L'Arche de le Defense is visible from the top of it, she launches into a long CharacterFilibuster (with which [[AuthorFilibuster Lee Goldberg]] [[PoesLaw may or may not have agreed]]) about how commercialism and "doing things bigger" has ruined her beautiful city [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks from being the way it was twenty years ago on her honeymoon with Mitch]]. [[DoubleSubverted Then]] she finds an enormous parisian flat with a personal cafe and a waterfall being run by a sewer [[strike: mutant]] vagrant (ItMakesSenseInContext) and repeatedly waxes poetically throughout the book about how Paris even has better garbage than San Francisco [[note]] despite only ever seeing garbage from the 7th arrondissiment[[/note]]. [[ZigZaggingTrope Triple-subverted]] ([[{{Drama}} or was it?]]) with a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] by Randy when the police are completely blasé about a criminal plummeting to his death directly in front of them:

* BoringButPractical: Monk surprises Natalie by saying he wants to see the Paris Sewer Museum, since the Paris sewers system were the first modern system in Europe and helped pave the way for the rest of the world. Natalie argues that Paris is famous for much more exciting things - architecture, fine art, literature, and cuisine - and he asks her if any of those things could have been possible if Paris's streets were awash with effluent, and its architects, artists, authors and chefs were too busy dying of cholera. She admits he has a point.

* GayParee: Played with. Natalie expects to eat croissants and whatnot while enjoying the rustic splendor of the city. As soon as she sees the lights on the Eiffel Tower, and the [[FerrisWheelOfDoom Roue de Paris]], and the Arc de Triomphe merely because L'Arche de le Defense is visible from the top of it, she launches into a long CharacterFilibuster (with which [[AuthorFilibuster Lee Goldberg]] [[PoesLaw may or may not have agreed]]) about how commercialism and "doing things bigger" has ruined her beautiful city [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks from being the way it was twenty years ago on her honeymoon with Mitch]]. [[DoubleSubverted Then]] she finds an enormous parisian flat with a personal cafe and a waterfall being run by a sewer [[strike: mutant]] vagrant (ItMakesSenseInContext) and repeatedly waxes poetically throughout the book about how Paris even has better garbage than San Francisco [[note]] despite only ever seeing garbage from the 7th arrondissiment[[/note]]. [[ZigZaggingTrope Triple-subverted]] ([[{{Drama}} or was it?]]) with a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] by Randy when the police are completely blase about a criminal plummeting to his death directly in front of them:

After following Dr. Kroger to Germany and solving a murder there, it's time for a vacation in Gay Paree! What could be better? For Adrian Monk, almost anything -- but much to his pleasure and Natalie's dismay, no day for Monk doesn't involve a few corpses. Shortly after arriving, Monk finds a recent skull in the Paris catacombs, and soon afterwards, a woman sitting at the same table with him dies a violent death. To add further distractions, the case drags Monk into meeting the Freegans -- a scavenging society whose lifestyle disgusts the obsessive detective to his core. Can Monk win past his discomfort to crack the case, and will any part of his and Natalie's Parisian vacation prove successful?

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Apparently, the song Randy wrote about Stottlemeyer ''I Don't Need a Badge'', has a cult following in France. Randy performs it with Inspector Guy Gadois, who adds in European substitutions such as "goatee" instead of "mustache".

* BusmansHoliday: Natalie uses emotional blackmail to get Monk to come along with her to Paris. There is a murder on the plane, which causes a grumpy lampshade hanging from Natalie. Then, he finds a skull in the catacombs that was not dumped there a few hundred years ago, but less than twelve months ago. Later, Monk and Natalie are at a blind restaurant (where you eat in pitch-black darkness). Another woman sits down, and is about to talk to them when a shadowy assailant stabs and kills her with a steak knife, then escapes in a matter of a few seconds.

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Monk ultimately figures out that Antoine Bisson, the artist whose graphic novel got Aimee Dupon interested in the Freegan movement, murdered Nathan Chalmers and Aimee herself, once she started to figure out his plot. Bisson says that he loved Aimee deeply, and Barlier retorts that he should have killed himself rather than killing her. Bisson agrees, and [[DrivenToSuicide takes a dive out the window before anyone can stop him.]]
* YourCheatingHeart: Flight attendant Marice Lambert kills her boyfriend, businessman Heinrich Wilke, when she discovers he is actually married.

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Monk ultimately figures out that Antoine Bisson, the artist whose graphic novel got Aimee Dupon interested in the Freegan movement, murdered Nathan Chalmers and Aimee herself, once she started to figure out his plot. Bisson says that he loved Aimee deeply, and Barlier retorts that he should have killed himself rather than killing her. Bisson agrees, and [[DrivenToSuicide takes a dive out the window before anyone can stop him.]]

** When Monk and Natalie visit a blind restaurant where you eat in complete darkness, Natalie brings up the events of "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing" to get Monk to think about the positives of eating in such a place, reminding him how he suddenly no longer cared if things were clean or orderly.

* YourCheatingHeart: Monk figures out that Heinrich Wilke, the man who drops dead on his and Natalie's flight to Paris, had been cheating on his wife with the head stewardess on the plane, Marise Lambert. It backfired on him when she saw his wife and killed him using his allergy to nuts.

* GroupieBrigade: Disher's music turns out to have a cult following in France, and when Randy does a performance in a fan club, the stage gets surrounded by squealing fan girls, complete with underwear throwing, which naturally discombobulates Monk and also humiliates Stottlemeyer and disgusts Natalie.

* MythologyGag: In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist," we were introduced to Randy's single, "I Don't Need a Badge," a condescending rock song (with a [[StylisticSuck very terrible music video]]) directed at Stottlemeyer following Randy's temporary resignation from the force. In the novel, when Randy is introduced at the Paris police prefecture, Inspector Guy Gadois identifies him right away, and apparently has heard the song a lot. Gadois's only changes to the lyrics have been replacing some American terminologies with European ones - "captain" with "Inspector" and "mustache" with "goatee". Natalie is somewhat disturbed, as is Stottlemeyer.

* CharacterOutlivesActor: Dr. Kroger appears in the novel, which was published after Creator/StanleyKamel's death. However, it was set prior to "Mr. Monk Is On the Run", filmed when Kamel was still alive.

* CharacterOutlivesActor: Dr. Kroger appears in the novel, which was published after Stanley Kamel's death. However, it was set prior to "Mr. Monk Is On the Run", filmed when Kamel was still alive.

* BusmansHoliday: Natalie uses emotional blackmail to get Monk to come along with her to Paris. There is a murder on the plane. Then, he finds a skull in the catacombs that was not dumped there a few hundred years ago, but less than twelve months ago. Later, Monk and Natalie are at a blind restaurant (where you eat in pitch-black darkness). Another woman sits down, and is about to talk to them when a shadowy assailant stabs and kills her with a steak knife, then escapes in a matter of a few seconds.

* YourCheatingHeart: Monk figures out that Heinrich Wilke, the man who drops dead on his and Natalie's flight to Paris, had been cheating on his wife with the head stewardess on the plane, Marise Lambert. It backfires on him when she sees his wife and kills him using his allergy to nuts.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Chief Inspector Philippe Le Roux and Inspector Guy Gadois are remarkably similar to Stottlemeyer and Disher.