As a favor to Stottlemeyer, Monk goes to investigate the murder of an officer-turned-security-guard in the Western town of Trouble. The town quickly rattles Monk, and as he and Natalie dig deeper into the present and past mysteries involving the town, the plot grows thicker than the local diner's milkshakes. Can Monk solve the mystery and take some of the trouble out of the town?
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Absence of Evidence:
- Monk suspects that Gator Dunsen, an ex-con killed in a shootout by Trouble's police chief Harley Kelton, was innocent of the murder they had come to question him about: his prized 1964 Thunderbird was clean and the only way into and out of Trouble involves going through a swarm of migrating butterflies that gunk up any motorists going through that stretch, and a picture planted in his house suggesting that he was casing the museum was actually taken after that murder since it lacks the murder weapon.
- In one of the mysteries solved by Artemis Monk in the past, Monk deduces that the killer was one of the victim's partners because he didn't put up a struggle before being murdered.
- All for Nothing: Artemis Monk notes that one of the claim-salting scams he solved was actually unnecessary, because his work as an assayer indicated that the claim was naturally as rich as the owner claimed. Instead of getting a hefty payout for his property, he's forced to choose between jail (which would probably lead to hanging) or selling the claim only for enough money to pay his way back to San Francisco.
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Harley Kelton, the crooked Trouble police chief and Trouble's auto mechanic Bob Gorman kill a recently released ex-con named Gator Dunsen and fake a shootout with him when the police chief goes to ask him about the murder of the history museum guard.
- Dirty Cop: Trouble Police Chief Harley Kelton. The museum's security guard, Manny Feikema, is killed and he asks for help from San Francisco since Feikema used to be an SFPD detective. Of course, it is not revealed until the end that Kelton was conspiring with an accomplice, local auto mechanic Bob Gorman, who actually killed Feikema. Kelton had managed to deduce that the gold stolen in an unsolved train heist in the 1960s was hidden in the furnace of the museum's display steam locomotive. He had to have Feikema killed because Feikema would never help Kelton recover the gold. After this, Kelton and Gorman conspire to kill Gator Dunsen, a recently released ex-con sent to prison by Feikema, and frame him for the murder. Gorman ties Gator up, makes him drink himself into a stupor, then stages a shootout with Kelton with Monk and Natalie hunkering down outside, so that it will look like Kelton killed Gator in self-defense. That night, Kelton kills the robbed train's engineer, Clifford Adams, at his old rundown shack, after Adams realizes that the gold from the train has been discovered.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The killer Monk catches in the opening chapters apparently killed his date in a fit of passion because she cooked the meat in a way he didn't like.
- Famous Ancestor: Monk learns he's a descendent of Artemis Monk, the old mining town's famous assayer and crime-solving genius who was the best assayer of the 1850s.
- Gender-Blender Name: Monk's ancestor was named Artemis, a name belonging to a Greek goddess.
- Generation Xerox: While in Trouble, Natalie uncovers accounts about Artemis Monk, a finicky assayer who solved mysteries as a hobby, and his assistant, a young widow called Abigail Guthrie. This actually makes her feel uncomfortable when Julie points out that Abigail could be related to her, as it makes her question whether her employment with Monk was destiny or choice. She's also unamused when she finds out legend says Artemis and Abigail eventually got married and Stottlemeyer and Disher make jokes about it.
- Hidden in Plain Sight:
- The killer Monk catches in the beginning had stabbed his date to death and disguised himself as a trick-or-treater so no one would get suspicious about the blood on his clothes.
- It's mentioned that the gold in the old train heist vanished because it was used to line the locomotive's furnace, and the furnace was lined with soot as well.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The opening mystery Monk solves has a man kill his date on Halloween.
- Official Couple: While the town historian has no official documentation, the general story is that Artemis Monk and Abigail Guthrie got married at some point after Abigail had finished writing her diaries about the cases.
- Shown Their Work: Goldberg did a lot of research on old mining towns in California around the time of the 1849 Gold Rush in order to recreate the atmosphere realistically for Abigail Guthrie's journal entries about the tales of Artemis Monk. Such information included stuff about train heists, various methods of salting mines, Greeley's Cure, and a miner's lodgings.
- Take My Hand!: Monk falls into a mining pit while he and Natalie are trying to talk to Clifford Adams. Natalie reaches her hand in to grab him before the rock he's standing on gives way, but she can't reach him. It ultimately takes her pulling off her jeans and using them as a rope to save Monk from falling to his death.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Stottlemeyer reacts with unusual calm to the sight of a tied up suspect lying on Monk's floor. Natalie theorizes that practiced calm is the way he deals with all the bizarre things that working with Monk involves and says she's got a long way to go before reaching his level.
- Working the Same Case: Monk determines that the recent murders of Trouble's history museum security guard, an old train engineer, and an ex-con, are tied back to a famous train holdup committed in the early 1960s. The gold stolen in the holdup was hidden inside the locomotive's furnace, but since the train's run was extended due to the publicity brought on by the heist, the locomotive ran for twenty more years, then got snatched up by the history museum.
- Would Rather Suffer: Monk says he should have either let himself fall or let the spider that was in the shaft with him bite him after Natalie finally manages to get him out. When Natalie asks if him having to put her jeans back on her was that bad, Monk answers it was that and seeing her get injured trying to save him.
- You Are Fat: Monk points out the baby fat on one of the trick-or-treaters when someone suggests Snickers over Wet Ones as a Halloween treat. The parents are scandalized; the child is more upset about not getting candy.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Abigail Guthrie realizes that something has changed in her relationship with her employer when he starts calling her "Abby." Shortly thereafter, she begins calling him "Artemis."
