no set time is given, the presence of Dr. Bell instead of Dr. Kroger means that the novel definitely occurred after the events of the season 7 episode "Mr. Monk Buys a House." In fact, this was the first novel to feature Dr. Bell, as all of the previous novels up until Mr. Monk is Miserable had featured Dr. Kroger (who last appeared in "Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece," as Stanley Kamel died of a heart attack in April 2008), since they were set before the end of the sixth season. Salvatore Lucarelli, the West Coast Godfather, previously appeared in the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather", which was co-written by author Lee Goldberg. The Lucarelli subplot of Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop and the plot of "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather" are very similar: a murder takes place, and Lucarelli is going to get blamed for it, so he has Monk go out and investigate. It turns out someone else committed the crime and wanted it to look mob related. However, Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop does not feature Fat Tony, Lucarelli's nephew. Monk has worked with private eyes in the past, and briefly even became one at Natalie's insistence in the episode "Mr. Monk, Private Eye". When Monk, Natalie and Stottlemeyer first meet the demented Peschel, he mentions someone named Hy Conrad bragging about a smash-and-grab (ten years ago). Hy Conrad was in fact a writer and producer for Monk. When Natalie and Monk go to Braddock's hotel room, Monk refuses to ride in the elevator, comparing it to being buried alive. Natalie thinks he is being irrational, but he archly reminds her that he actually has been buried alive twice before and knows more about it than she does. Monk is referring, obliquely, to the events of the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra" (when Monk was buried in a coffin at a cemetery) and the season 6 episode "Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure" (when Monk was buried with Dr. Kroger's son Troy for several hours in a car at a quarry). The Jeremiah Cowan subplot at the beginning appears to have been the basis for the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show." Crossovers with other series Mannix Mannix was an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. It starred Mike Connors as the