Monk is home, and he’s complaining to Natalie about a neighbor’s incessant piano playing. Monk is having a terrible time. He can’t sleep, and to make matters worse, Monk can’t call on the wisdom of Dr. Kroger, who recently passed away. Desperate, Monk goes to police headquarters to scrounge the files for a case, any case, to help take his mind off the annoying music.
Monk comes across the case of Joseph Moody, an elderly man who died after falling down a flight of stairs in his home. The death has been ruled an accident, but Monk decides to check it out, anyway. He goes to Moody’s house and meets Moody’s niece, Pamela. She explains that Moody was in the house with his nurse when he fell. But Monk is more interested in the immaculate condition of the house, which the niece intends to sell. Wanting to escape his noisy neighbor, Monk makes an impulsive decision and agrees to buy the house on the spot.
Days later, Monk has an appointment with a new therapist, a friend and colleague of Dr. Kroger’s named Neven Bell. Dr. Bell is familiar with Monk’s history, and is prepared for Monk’s visit with wipes and Monk’s favorite brand of water. Monk tells Dr. Bell about his neighbor’s piano playing, and Dr. Bell makes a keen observation: the neighbor has been playing music for a long time, but it only started bothering Monk since Dr. Kroger died. Dr. Bell suspects a connection, and advises Monk against buying the new house at such a difficult and emotional time. Monk angrily denies any connection between the music and Dr. Kroger’s death, and ends his relationship with Dr. Bell.
Weeks later, Monk is moving into his new home. Monk is excited to be making a new start, and, most importantly, is thrilled at how quiet his new house is. Things are going surprisingly well when Monk notices a light fixture that’s slightly off center. He calls “Honest Jake,” a handyman Monk recently met at a hardware store. Honest Jake arrives to assess the situation, and soon finds a series of increasingly severe problems with Monk’s new house. Before long, Honest Jake is tearing Monk’s house apart.
Even with all of this upheaval, Monk manages to find clues relating to Joseph Moody’s death. Monk begins to suspect that Moody was killed by his nurse. When Monk and the gang go to question the nurse, they find her dead. She’s been stabbed, and the wound appears to have been made by a knitting needle. In addition, four thousand dollars in 1960’s currency is found at the scene.
Monk and Natalie return to Monk’s house to check on the progress of Honest Jake’s repairs. It isn’t going well. The house is a complete disaster, and Monk’s life has become more noisy and chaotic than ever. Then, Honest Jake’s assistant hands Monk Joseph Moody’s old scrapbook. Monk makes a discovery. When he turns over the scrapbook’s clippings, they tell the story of a famous, forty year-old bank robbery. Monk puts everything together. Joseph Moody robbed a bank forty years ago and stashed the money in his house. Forty years later, Moody suffered from dementia, and began babbling to his nurse about his hidden stash. The nurse killed Moody before he could tell anybody else his secret, but also before Moody could tell her exactly where the money was. She planned to search the house after Moody’s death, but Monk moving in so soon interfered. Honest Jake wasn’t really a handyman, he was the nurse’s lover, and he was looking for the money the whole time he was in Monk’s house. When Monk caught onto the nurse, Honest Jake killed her – not with a knitting needle – but with his awl.
Unfortunately, before Monk and Natalie can take any action, Honest Jake pulls a gun on them and chains them to a bathtub. After Honest Jake finds the stash of money (with a little unintended help from Monk), Jake kills his assistant. With Monk and Natalie next on Jake’s list for elimination, Monk quickly knocks Jake unconscious. With no other way to communicate with the outside world, Monk and Natalie send smoke signals into the air via the house’s fireplace. Stottlemeyer and Disher respond just in time to arrest Honest Jake before he can do any further harm.
With another case solved, Monk returns to Dr. Bell, who turned out to be right about everything. Monk has found his new therapist. Later, Monk has settled back into his old apartment. Monk looks up at his mantle, where he sees a photograph of Dr. Kroger. It’s clear that Monk and the people around him will always have warm, loving memories of Charles Kroger.
[Edit]
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