For those of you who have watched the Columbo show for many years, you will be sorely disappointed by this book, as well as the entire Columbo series. The brilliance of the old show was the subtlety in which Columbo got things done. Here, all the subtlety is pushed to the front as the reader can barely go 5 pages without a reference to Mrs. Columbo. There is no panache in which the murder is solved. No, hard-hitting Columbo. Just boring, diffuse, loose ends, that when they come together, you wish you would have sat down and watched on of the episodes that you've already seen 20 times.