Ken Franklin (Jack Cassidy), the non-writing half of a mystery novel writing team, murders the writing half of the team, Jim Ferris (Martin Milner). Franklin was the smooth one that handled the publicity and TV appearances. Ferris was planning on leaving the team after his next novel to work on an expose of organized crime. Franklin plans everything well, making it look like Ferris was murdered in Los Angeles for his ongoing investigation into the mafia, while Franklin was away at his vacation cabin, thus having an alibi. But two things trip him up. One, of course, is the fact that Columbo is on the case. The other is that a rather toothy middle aged widow who runs the country store where Franklin's cabin is actually saw Ferris with Franklin on the day of the murder. And she has blackmail on her mind.
A note to would be blackmailers. Don't think that you can blackmail somebody, even for a nominal sum, and that they'll be your friend, or in the widow's case, return your romantic interest. By definition, they see you as an enemy because that is what you are.
In this episode, Columbo does something he normally does not do onscreen. He talks to the widow of the murder victim and tells her exactly who he thinks the killer is and what he thinks about him and enlists her help in trying to catch him. Normally, although you may suspect what Columbo thinks, he saves how he came to his deductions until the final scene. Also, the motive is not revealed until the end. Franklin is a cool customer, so it was probably not anger that made him carry out such a premeditated crime, and with Ferris planning on breaking up their partnership, murder is not going to change that, so I was anxious to know what possible motive there could be. To that I'd say, watch and find out.
A note to would be blackmailers. Don't think that you can blackmail somebody, even for a nominal sum, and that they'll be your friend, or in the widow's case, return your romantic interest. By definition, they see you as an enemy because that is what you are.
In this episode, Columbo does something he normally does not do onscreen. He talks to the widow of the murder victim and tells her exactly who he thinks the killer is and what he thinks about him and enlists her help in trying to catch him. Normally, although you may suspect what Columbo thinks, he saves how he came to his deductions until the final scene. Also, the motive is not revealed until the end. Franklin is a cool customer, so it was probably not anger that made him carry out such a premeditated crime, and with Ferris planning on breaking up their partnership, murder is not going to change that, so I was anxious to know what possible motive there could be. To that I'd say, watch and find out.