Adrian Monk is horrified when he learns there is going to be a blue flu in San Francisco. He doesn’t understand what the blue flu is–but it sounds terrible. Captain Stottlemeyer explains that it’s not really a virus: the police force plan to call in “sick” until they get a better contract. The good news is that the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force. The bad news is that it means he’ll be a “scab”–and he doesn’t like the sound of that either.

Before he knows it, Monk has his badge back and his own squad to command. Unfortunately, some of the squad members make Monk look like a paragon of mental health. But despite the challenges, they will have to pull together to catch an astrologer’s killer, solve a series of mysterious fatal assaults, and, most importantly, clean up their desks.

Captain Leland Stottlemayer is faced with budget cuts and trims Monk’s services as an expense. Though he insists it’s nothing personal, when Monk’s offers to help for no charge are declined, he and Natalie suspect otherwise. But Monk is too compulsive to stop investigating. So when Stottlemayer is arrested for the killing of another cop with overwhelming evidence against him, he must turn to the only detective who can prove his innocence.

The husband of Monk’s former assistant, Sharona, has been arrested for murder. Sharona, now back in San Francisco, is ready to reclaim her place in Monk’s life–much to the chagrin of his current assistant, Natalie. While Monk tries to maintain a delicate balance between the two women, he discovers a few unsettling snags in the case against Sharona’s husband and may be up against a killer who not only understands him but is one step ahead.

Adrian Monk is actually doing well lately. He is solving murders as fast as they come, and he has been noticeably less compulsive–he doesn’t count his morning Wheat Chex until they’re in the bowl. Progress is progress, and Monk knows he owes it all to his therapist, Dr. Kroger. So when Dr. Kroger attends a conference in Germany, Monk ends up in trouble. He can’t tie his shoes, forgets how to swallow, and loses track of his blinking. Desperate to regain his footing, Monk follows his shrink to Germany. And that’s where Monk sees the man across a crowded town sqare–the man he’s never stopped searching for. The man with six fingers. The man responsible for his wife’s death. Or did Monk just imagine crossing paths with him?

Now, in a foreign land full of, well, foreigners, Monk must deal with his multitude of phobias and contend with an especially unfriendly polizei department in order to find the six-fingered man. He also must confront someone who thinks Monk may have just gone officially insane–his own psychiatrist.

Some people think Hawaii is paradise, but Monk knows that danger, like dirt, lurks everywhere. Look at Helen Gruber, the rich tourist who took a fatal blow from a coconut. The police say it fell from a tree, but Monk suspects otherwise. His assistant Natalie isn’t exactly thrilled about Monk’s latest investigation. It was bad enough that Monk followed her on vacation, and now it looks like the vacation is over. Smooth-talking television psychic Dylan Swift is on the island and claims to have a message from beyond–from Helen Gruber. Monk has his doubts about Swift’s credibility. But finding the killer and proving Swift a fraud–all while coping with geckos and the horror of unsynchronized ceiling fans–may prove a tough coconut to crack.

Monk’s house is being fumigated, and he has nowhere to go. His assistant Natalie and her daughter are kind enough to welcome him into their home. While Monk attempts to arrange his surroundings just so, something else needs to be put straight. The death of a dog at the local firehouse–on the same night as a fatal house fire–has led Monk into a puzzling mystery. And much to his horror, he’s going to have to dig through a lot of dirt to find the answer.

Adrian Monk has journeyed into the realm of the cult science fiction show Beyond Earth, where he meets fans just as obsessive-compulsive as he is. Monk is at their convention because there may be a killer lurking in the Beyond Earth community. Someone in a starship uniform has very publicly gunned down the show’s legendary creator, Conrad Stipe. Could a fan be that furious at him for selling out to an exploitative Hollywood producer? Or was there more going on behind the scenes in Stipe’s life?

On a return trip from Germany, Monk and Natalie stop over in Paris. They visit the catacombs, a vast, underground cavern in the center of the city lined with millions of human bones. Monk picks up a skull and announces that the person was murdered. Most of the bodies came from a battlefield, but Monk believes the wound that killed this man came from a modern weapon made in the last few years. He thinks someone hid a recent murder victim among the ancient bones. As Monk starts to investigate the crime, he uncovers another murder that involves a society of “dumpster divers,” people who live commerce-free off the waste of society. It might just be the last straw in Monk’s visit to Paris.