Susan Kellermann

A suspicious suitcase is found on a school bus and inside is the dead body of a nine-year-old pageant princess. There's a report of a missing girl on Long Island named Cherie Lathan. It is discovered she is the victim. Her father was pushing her toward the pageant world and she had the "look" of a young beauty queen. She was last seen at her friend's house and then walked alone to the school bus where she disappeared. Initially, a 15-year-old boy who was stalking her is suspected to be the killer but his DNA clears, as does the DNA from Cherie's father. Based on blood from the ejaculate found on the body, they suspect they are looking for is a sex offender who was chemically castrated.

San Francisco antique dealer Raymond Toliver reads aloud from an old, yellowing confession written by 19th century prospector Joshua Skinner. It describes how Skinner murdered his mining partner Gully Watson during the gold rush of 1849, built an enormous house on the site of the gold strike, then hid Watson's share of the mother lode -- a cache worth millions that has never been found to this day. "Where is the gold?" Skinner’s letter asks. "The answer is in my journals." As Toliver ponders aloud how anyone could murder their partner for a cache of gold, his own partner, Dalton Padron, bludgeons him to death with a sewing machine. A few days later, Monk is entreated by a very drunk Lieutenant Disher to look into the whirlwind nuptials of his unglamorous, 50-something mother, Maria, to a dark, mysterious and much younger antique dealer named Dalton Padron -- whom Disher doesn't trust.

Jessica is sued for libel after a comic strip version of her accuses prominent New Yorkers of crimes.

Alex has a one-night affair with Latka's attractive and youthful mother.

Ring the bells! Spread the word! Latka Gravas and Simka Dahblitz are getting married, and the dingy Sunshine Cab Co. garage is transformed into a chapel of beauty for the social event of the cabbies’ season.