The Columbo Collection

"The Columbo Collection (2010)" by William Link, published by Crippen & Landru. JUST ONE MORE THING Lieutenant Columbo -- short, unkempt, shapeless raincoat flapping open, unlit cigar in his hand-- turns towards the murderer who is certain that this undistinguished plainclothesman will never see through his perfect crime. Then -- just one more thing and the murderer realizes that his murder plot has unraveled. Columbo, played by the marvelous Peter Falk, appeared as a made-for-television movie in 1968, then the long-running series in 1971 and kept coming back over the decades. One of the finest detective series ever to appear on television, Columbo was created by William Link and his late collaborator Richard Levinson. With The Columbo Collection, Link has written 12 brilliant new stories in which murderers try to get away with murder but come up against the rumpled but unflappable Lieutenant Columbo. From Booklist Columbo is, of course, the fictional Los Angeles police detective created 50 years ago by Link and his writing partner, the late Richard Levinson, and famously played on television by Peter Falk. Here, Link offers a dozen original short stories about the character. All the ingredients are here: the crime, the murderer, Columbo’s step-by-step assembling of the evidence. The solutions to the cases, as fans will expect, often hinge on one crucial piece of evidence or on gleaning the truth from seemingly insignificant observations. The author incorporates many of Columbo’s familiar traits (the raincoat, the cigar, the catchphrases), but these are not pastiches. The book’s only real flaw—and this may only be a flaw to rabid fans of the TV show—is that the stories feel rushed; there’s not enough of the signature Columbo meandering, befuddling his suspects with his seemingly slow-witted questioning. These are good stories, and it’s great to see Columbo again, but they leave us feeling as if we’ve had a snack when we wanted a full-course meal. --David Pitt About the Author WILLIAM LINK was born in Philadelphia and grew up in a neighboring suburb. At four years old, he began drawing stories before he had learned to write. Then pencil in hand he drew his own comic books with his own super heroes. Much later, incongruously, he received his degree from the Wharton School of Business where, for his senior thesis, he submitted three original TV scripts, which he later sold. And then along came Hollywood. With his childhood best friend and collaborator, Richard Levinson, they became legends in their own time. Link and Levinson created fourteen on-the-air TV series including Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Mannix, McCloud, Ellery Queen, The Bold Ones, as well as the Broadway musical, Merlin, motion pictures, stage plays and books. After Levinson's untimely death in 1987, Link co-created two more television series, Probe and The Cosby Mysteries, wrote plays, short stories, and was president of the Mystery Writers of America. As Link said, a business education was a safety net if he and Levinson failed in a writing career. They never did and millions of television viewers have been enriched by their success. Book details: published 2010. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.