Trudy Monk’s Death Is Solved in Season 8 of 'Monk': Here’s How He Cracks the Case

Crime dramas are an effective and captivating TV format. Just ask the millions of viewers who tune in for Law & Order and its many spinoffs, or NCIS, or the various iterations of Sherlock Holmes. Heck, even House blended the gumshoe elements of solving capers in a medical setting.

Monk was another popular series that involved investigative elements and it was rooted in an intriguing, albeit neurotic lead character. One of the biggest burning mysteries of the show, however, was the fate of the titular character's wife, Trudy. What happened to her?

A pervasive enigma that was oft-referenced throughout the show was the death of Trudy Monk, Adrian's wife who passed away before the events of the series took place.

In December of 1997, she passed away after a bomb exploded in her car, which was left in a parking garage.

Even the fastidious and capable private detective the series is based around had a difficult time solving his wife's murder. Throughout the show's eight seasons, Adrian constantly turned back to the open case of Trudy's death as he was driven to discover who was behind it.

Bits of evidence pertaining to her murder are sporadically revealed to Monk by another one of the show's recurring characters, Dale J. Biederbeck III, also known as "The Whale." Throughout his discussions with the wealthy and unscrupulous financier, Adrian believed that the bomb was originally intended for him and that Trudy was unintended collateral damage.

Viewers may have thought the showrunners were never going to reveal the cause of Trudy's death. The detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder was adept at solving every case he came across, and this would just be one he'd never get a handle on.

However, in the series finale, Adrian ends up learning the truth behind Trudy's killing.

It turns out that Trudy actually had an affair with her law school professor, Ethan Rickover. 15 years after their relationship, Rickover wanted her killed as he didn't want to jeopardize his standing in the court system.

The new judge hired a hitman, Frank Nunn, to place the bomb in the car. What makes the whole situation even more messed up is that the day Trudy was killed, Monk was assigned to a case that led him to Rickover's backyard.

Monk was led to the discovery by some intel from Biedebeck III. Following their correspondence, Adrian ended up meeting with Warrick Tennyson, a maven in incendiary devices.

Monk ends up meeting Tennyson in the nick of time, as the explosives specialist was on his deathbed. It was here that he revealed to the detective he built a 10-lb plastic explosive and was paid $2,000 for it. Furthermore, he dropped the bomb off to a man he couldn't identify in a parking garage.

This just so happened to be the same garage where Trudy met her ultimate fate. However, he did provide Adrian with an important piece of information — the person he gave the bomb too had a sixth finger on his right hand.

Nunn was killed off in Season 6 of the show, so it isn't like Adrian could've interrogated him for any information.

In the Season 8 episode "Mr. Monk and the End: Part 1" Adrian finally brings himself to open the final Christmas present Trudy left him. That's because he believed he was going to die after he was poisoned by Joe Kazarinsky. The gift contained a video, where Trudy confesses to the affair and who it was with.

Also, Trudy said she became pregnant with Rickover's child, but the baby sadly died only 9 minutes after it was born. The midwife who delivered the child, Wendy Straud, went missing before Trudy recorded the video. She suspected it was Rickover's doing, and that he might take action against her as well.

As it turns out, however, the baby had survived and Rickover was actually trying to cover up his illegitimate child, not his affair. After a confrontation in which Monk questions the judge at gunpoint, Rickover grabs the gun from the detective and shoots himself in the head. Before he does, however, he tells Monk to "take care of her," referencing the child he had with Trudy.

Monk is able to locate the girl who survived, Molly, and the two share an immediate bond. One that is visited again in the 2023 Monk movie.

You can currently stream Monk on demand with an Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, FuboTV, or Philo subscription.