COLUMBO UNDER GLASS (paperback)
Columbo, (1971-2003), an American television series starring Peter Falk in his Emmy Award-winning role as a homicide detective, evolved from a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, to a story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, to a stage play starring Thomas Mitchell, Joseph Cotton, and Agnes Moorehead, and to an NBC TV Movie of the Week starring Falk.
Episodes were directed by such well-known filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Ben Gazzara, and Patrick McGoohan. Guest stars included such renowned personalities as Johnny Cash, Leonard Nimoy, Vincent Price, Faye Dunnaway, William Shatner, and Dick Van Dyke, to name only a few.
Columbo Under Glass examines Columbo from every angle, noting the first clues that Columbo finds that set him on the trail of each murderer, and the final clues that lead to the murder’s arrest.
Features include:
Foreword by Mark Dawidziak, author of The Columbo Phile.
Synopses of all 67 episodes, pilots, the original live TV show, and the original play.
Essays that put the great detective, his clues, and character “under glass.”
With a foreword by Mark Dawidziak, author of The Columbo Phile.
Columbo’s sympathetic relationships with various killers
Lists of rare instances when Columbo got angry.
Peter Falk’s expansion of the character
Falks’ attempt to adapt two Ed McBain novels into Columbo episodes
An in-depth discussion about Columbo’s morality code
Supporting casts
Colleagues and sidekicks
About the author: Sheldon Catz served from 1992 to 2002 as chief writer and editor of The Columbo Newsletter, a quarterly fanzine where many of the ideas explored in this book were first introduced.