Natalie completes the requirements and receives a license as a private investigator, and proceeds to attend a business seminar at sea with Adrian Monk.

When the alarm is pulled and the ship drops anchor, they discover the dead body of the cruise director in the sea.

In his author's note, Hy Conrad said that this novel was adapted from the script for a never-filmed episode of season 3 called "Mr. Monk Is At Sea".

Conrad noted that while USA Network approved the script, the episode got canned because they were unable to find a real cruise ship to secure for filming, as cruise lines were very sensitive about murders being committed on-board or people falling overboard.

In the next few seasons, the writers would turn to the script of "Mr. Monk Is At Sea" when running low on ideas and make calls, but it became the show's white whale.