An Owensboro Name Ended Up in a Monk Mystery Novel and Here’s Why

The first time I remember seeing the great character actor Tony Shalhoub was on the '90s sitcom Wings. Soon after, he appeared in one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files.

Tony Shalhoub

In "Soft Light," he played a man whose shadow was a black hole, rendering him unable to prevent the deaths of anyone who came too close to him when he was casting a shadow. In recent years, he's had a prominent supporting role on the Amazon Prime comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for which he won one of his four Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019.

Monk

But he's like most famous for playing germophobic detective Adrian Monk on the comedy series Monk. It's the role that won him the other three Emmys. He's also won a Daytime Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Tony Award.

Created for the USA Network by Andy Breckman, Monk was so popular that a series of 19 novels by Lee Goldberg were subsequently written featuring the Adrian Monk character.

The Monk/Owensboro Connection

The eighth such outing from 2009--entitled Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop--features this paragraph on page 55. The setting is a police conference Q&A session. Check this out.

Dave Spencer

I always love it when Owensboro or even Kentucky gets love on the big screen or small screen; it never occurred to me to think about mystery novels. And "mystery" is the keyword here.

Zev Buffman

Back in the day, the RiverPark Center in downtown Owensboro hosted International Mystery Writers Festivals, and it was during one of these events that Monk producer David Breckman--Andy's brother--made an appearance at the behest of then-RiverPark president Zev Buffman. I'm guessing this friendship is how Buffman became a member of the Owensboro Police Department for Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop. Zev Buffman passed away in 2020 at the age of 89. Here he is in a 1988 interview from his time in Miami.

Now that I think about it, I remember the Monk producer showing up at the festival. Fun times.

By the way, I tip my hat to my sister, the biggest Monk fan I know. She was reading Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop and made the discovery, and a very cool one it was.