Former pol ice de tective Adrian Mo nk (Tony Sha lhoub), whose ph otographi c memory and amazing abi lity t o piece together tiny clues made hi m a local legend, has suffe red fro m in tensified obsessive-co mpulsiv e disorder and a variety of phobias si nce t he unsolved murde r of his wife, Trudy, in 1997. Now on psychiatric leave from t he San Fr ancisco Police Department and working as a freelance detective con sult ant on di fficult cases, Monk hopes to co nvince his former boss, C aptain Lelan d Stottl emeyer (Ted Levine), to allow him to return to the force. Stottlemeyer, who waver ed between admiratio n for Monk and annoyance at his eccentr icities dur ing t he first season, is beco ming more of a friend to Mon k as the serie s develops, frequently calling hi m in to help, as much for Monk's b enefit as for his own. However, he knows Mo nk's limitation s as we ll as his st rengths and may still harbor doub ts about the wisdo m of allowing Monk to carry a gun o r subdue a per petrator. Stottlemeyer's second-in-comman d, Lieu tenant Ran dall Disher (Jason Gra y-Stanfo rd), als o seems t o be d eveloping both admi ration and compassion for the man he once labeled the def ective detec tive. Despite flaws and inade quacies all around, the three are b ecoming an increasingly effective team, with additional help from M onk's pe rsonal assistant. From the do uble- episode p ilot thr ough the first hal f of seaso n three, Monk was aided by his nurse, Sharona F leming (Bi tty Schram). But in the te nth episode of the third s eason, Sharona was replaced by a new assistant, Natalie Teeger (T raylor Howard). Like Sharona, a divorcee w ith a son named Benjy, Natalie is a single parent, a wido w with a daughter named Julie (Emmy Clarke ). Unlike Sharona, Nata lie is n ot a nurse but a former bartender with a fresh perspective on Mr. Mo nk, as she still addresses her new boss.
精彩剧情/对白：“是啊，我那时候就是钻牛角尖，刚处对象的时候，我娘死活不同意，我 也是倔脾气，以为邹 岗岭可以托付，不惜跟我娘 闹翻就是为了嫁他，后来过得不好也不愿意跟我娘说，就是为了争那口气，哎，现在想想，自 己真是太傻了，还让三 个闺女跟着我吃苦受罪。”
“刘青虽然不姓左，但是他家里几个兄弟都是在建造厂的，因为他们 在建造厂做工，家里 条件比普通人家好多了，爹娘妻儿的日子都很好过，刘青的儿子学问不错，还拿了童生呢， 他媳妇刚有第二个孩子，压根没法去想到他是奸细啊。”
“早先掌门找我商量 ，便是，我们阴府人手不 够，让王家 的人过来协助我们 ，但是我考虑到阴府这些人乖张， 本就是霸道不好相处的性子 ，若是王家人参合进来，他们怕是要欺负人，搅得 鸡犬不宁的，这才，干脆让你们王家弄，我们阴府乐得清希”
“多意不去，多意那里都不去，就在家里待着。当初你们宁家 让我养着她，也没要 接回去的。我养了那么大的女 儿，好不容易她能过上好日子了，你们竟然让她去长宁候府送死，我柳 氏不同意，你就是要了我柳 氏的命，我柳氏也不愿意！”
“如今愿意入户部尚书府的，没有谁家的姐乐意了，偏偏户部尚书这人，要 求甚高，普通的女人他觉得配不上自己的儿子，一定要是谁家的姐。不过 但倘若要是真的嫁过 去，还能有后，就算 是得到户 部尚书这一支 的人脉了，只是这 人脉不是 那么好拿到手的。”
