Steven C. Nelson

When a friend's college-age son dies mysteriously in Mexico, the mayor sends Monk to investigate. Doubting the coroner's report that the young man `drowned' in mid-air, Monk nevertheless has difficulty concentrating on the case.

As well as continuing their search for Sydney Harrison, the team must rescue Samantha from her kidnapper, who is angry after discovering that Samantha is an FBI agent.

A man who lost his wife in the attack on the World Trade Center takes her former boss Sydney Harrison hostage, blaming her for his wife's death, and Samantha goes undercover at the subsequent ransom handover.