FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #570: THE COLUMBO COLLECTION By William Link


Recently, I saw a dinner theater performance of Prescription for Murder: Columbo (you can read my review here). After enjoying the play, I remembered I had a copy of the Crippen & Landru’s The Columbo Collection by William Link. A quick search of my shelves produced the volume and I immediately read it. If you’re a fan of Columbo, you’ll enjoy these stories that provide plenty of puzzles for Columbo to solve in his unique style. William Link’s “Foreword” provides plenty of detail on how Link and Richard Levinson conjured up Columbo. Link’s relationship with Peter Falk adds more insight into the series and its sustained popularity with viewers. All in all, The Columbo Collection delivers entertainment and humor. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword 9
The criminal criminal attorney — 23
Grief — 64
A dish best served cold — 93
Ricochet — 122
Scout’s honor — 160
Sucker punch — 200
The blackest mail — 231
The gun that wasn’t — 278
Requiem for a hitman — 307
Trance — 349
Murder allegro — 389
Photo finish — 427

19 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #570: THE COLUMBO COLLECTION By William Link

  1. Jeff Meyerson

    I totally agree. I was not a huge Columbo fan, but I loved the book and thought they did a great job with the character.

    Reply
  2. Michael Padgett

    I loved “Columbo” and am pretty sure I saw every episode, but haven’t seen the series since its original appearance. If I found it streaming somewhere I’d watch it all again. And even though the show itself wasn’t nearly as good, I also watched “McMillan and Wife”, primarily because I loved Susan Saint James.

    Reply
    1. Todd Mason

      Also. IMDb also is streaming COLUMBO first series episodes, with some unskippable ads in. I see a lot of good-quality fan uploads of episodes have recently been taken down from YouTube, hence my watching “Identity Crisis” with Patrick McGoohan and Barbara Rhoades on IMDb for a few minutes at least…

      Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        But Michael apparently doesn’t…I had forgotten, and reminded myself on your post (sorry to waste so much space) about IMDb’s streaming project.

        Illness, then a 3am Sat morn power outage (had to go to the police station, also dark, to report it, as all the phones I use are AC, then went to a Wawa )local competition to 7/11 only better) to call the power company to make weight, as the outage was highly localized and relatively inexplicable in the face of low 30s) then a Sat afternoon furnace failure (quickly fixed, but also difficult to explain beyond [Excrement} Happens…have all piled on to slow Sunday’s Forgotten Books, again.

      2. george Post author

        Todd, sometimes Life intrudes. I admire your FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS lists whether they show up on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or whenever!

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