In The Monkey's Uncle, Philip Marlowe receives an urgent call from Wesley Macduff, who claims he is in danger and needs Marlowe's help immediately. Intrigued by the urgency and the bizarre nature of the situation, Marlowe agrees to meet Macduff at the Beekman Plaza Hotel. However, upon arrival, he finds no sign of Macduff, only a bellhop who provides cryptic information about a phony English lord named Ashley Duke and a drunken Scotsman. The case quickly spirals into a mix of comedy and danger as Marlowe realizes that the stakes are much higher than he initially thought.