The San Francisco sanitation union has gone on strike, demanding better pay from the city. As a result, garbage collection has stopped and the streets are now lined with trash bags. Monk, naturally, has a hard time dealing with the stench. Things get worse, though, when union boss Jimmy Cusack is found dead in his office of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, bringing negotiations to a halt. Monk finds evidence of foul play, but the stench causes him to make outrageous accusations against the mayor, and even Alice Cooper.
—dmcreif