the second official episode of the columbo series ( murder by the book and film later and hit the airwave first ) . robert culp and who would match wit with peter falk detective in several future installment and be terrific a the short tempered head of a sophisticated private detective agency who murder a client wife when she refuse to cave in to his blackmail scheme . the two star be well match in this clever cat and mouse exercise that be one of the best in the series .