Lee Goldberg

Lee Goldberg, Toast Master at Left Coast Crime in Hawaii (March 7-12, 2009) and author of the Monk novels, just sent some info about his latest books to IACW and I thought people would be very intersted.

"The latest Monk novel, MR. MONK IS MISERABLE, is out today and picks up right where MR. MONK GOES TO GERMANY left off. It's set in Paris, which makes it a very personal book for me. My wife Valerie is French, born and raised in Paris, and we go there each year to visit my inlaws. On our last visit, I took our 13-year-old daughter Maddie to The Catacombs. She took one look at the millions of bones stacked underground and said "Can you imagine Monk here?" Yes, I could. We both could. And from that moment on, I couldn't stop seeing Paris through Adrian Monk's eyes. And neither could she, which turned this book into sort of a family affair.

As familiar as I am with Paris, I still had to do a lot of research into the sewer system and, on a subsequent trip, scout locations for the book. The hotel, the restaurants, and just about every other setting in the book actually exists. I also named many of the characters after my French family and friends.

My next Monk book, MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP, comes out in July 2009 and takes place back in San Francisco, where I also feel a special connection. I was born and raised in the Bay Area. After two books "on the road," it was nice to be home again. The book I am working on now, MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, will be out in December 2009 and is set in San Francisco and California's gold country.

I haven't decided yet what comes after that. All I know is that, whatever those next two books are, they will be published after the TV series ends.

How will Monk change after the finale of the TV show? I have no idea yet...or how those changes will impact future books. I look forward to finding out!"

Want to spend some quality time with Lee? He's an incredible raconteur. Register for Left Coast Crime and join the group at an amazing Unconventional Convention!