Monk Episode Guide

Monk Episodes

Monk investigates the murder of an author who wrote a critical biography of a famous deceased martial arts movie star, Sonny Chow. The evidence present at the scene makes it appear that Chow is still alive and murdered the man who maligned him.

When John Ricca, author of a controversial and unfavorable biography of martial artist Sonny ("the Cobra") Chow, is found dead in his home, all the evidence points to Chow as the murderer. Unfortunately for Captain Stottlemeyer, his chief suspect has been dead for six years. While Monk and Natalie (who’s more interested in being reimbursed for her business expenses than in solving the case) visit Chow’s former teacher, Master Zee, who claims that Chow died in his arms, Stottlemeyer resorts to having the corpse dug up to prove that, despite rumors to the contrary, Chow is indeed dead. A dental X-ray proving that the corpse is Chow leaves Monk to figure out who tried to frame the dead man for murder. On an inadvertent tip from Disher, an avid Cobra fan, Monk and Natalie visit the Sonny Chow museum, where Monk finds two important clues--a hairbrush that has been stolen from its case and replaced with a lookalike and the stamp that the museum proprietor placed on Natalie’s hand so that she can return to the museum. Remembering a third clue, a "death pillow" from Chow’s coffin that felt harder than it should have when the frustrated Natalie hit him with it, Monk drags her back to the cemetery, but she leaves before he can present his solution to the case. Unfortunately for Monk, the perpetrator overhears himself named as the suspect and knocks Monk unconscious. Relenting, Natalie returns to the cemetery, discovers that Monk is missing, and calls Captain Stottlemeyer, who knows the "lowlife" perpetrator all too well and rightly deduces what he’s done to Monk. What looks like the entire SFPD arrives in time to catch the perp, whose fate adds another bizarre twist to the plot, but the real challenge is to find and rescue Monk while he’s still alive. Monk, meanwhile, is a lot calmer than the captain: he’s spending quality time with his dead wife, Trudy.