Columbo - Murder by the Book

Murder Mystery Monday takes us back to the television detective who always had one more thing to ask. The first episode of Columbo to air (outside of the two pilots which have notable differences to the ongoing series of TV-movies), hits the ground running with most of the staples of the show including showing us the murder by the guest-star Jack Cassidy, as one-half of a writing team who kills off his partner (Martin Milner). Believing he has gotten away with the perfect murder, our killer isn't ready for the rumpled detective to take the scene with a series of innocuous questions eventually finding the evidence to get his man.

While the set up would be common for Columbo over the decades in which Peter Falk returned to the character, giving away the whodunit at the start of a mystery was certainly unorthodox (creating its own subgenre which some refer to as a howcatchem). The beauty of the concept is how off-putting, and even inept, Columbo initially appears to our killer who often gains confidence they have gotten away with the crime not realizing how Columbo's rope-a-dope style will be their undoing.

Peter Falk hits the ground running and is in good form as Lieutenant Columbo, the role for which he's most widely remembered, and Casssidy works quite well setting the template for the criminal who thinks he's smarter than the police (and certainly smarter than this frumpy detective). The murder itself is well planned and staged as well. There's also plenty of talent behind-the-scenes with Steven Bochco penning the TV-movie's script and Steven Spielberg directing.

• Title: Columbo - Murder by the Book
• IMDb: link