Columbo (character) he is visiting them. "Étude in Black" (1972) marked the first appearance of the lieutenant's basset hound, named "Dog". "Dog" came to be an occasional regular character in the films. Columbo considered names like "Fido", "Munch" and "Beethoven" but ultimately settled on "Dog". In "Sex and the Married Detective", Columbo is put on the spot when he is asked to play the tuba. Reluctantly he agrees, only to demonstrate great proficiency. He subsequently claimed that at school, the tuba was the only instrument left. In several episodes, Columbo is seen eating a breakfast of a boiled egg, usually while investigating
Columbo in the film Ocean's Eight is referred to appearing like a Columbo look alike. A "Columbo" series of books was published by MCA Publishing, written by authors Alfred Lawrence, Henry Clements and Lee Hays. This series of books, with the first title published in 1972, were mostly adapted from the TV series. Columbo was also used as the protagonist for a series of novels published between 1994 and 1999 by Forge Books, an imprint of Tor Books. All of these books were written by William Harrington. William Link, the co-creator of the series, has written a collection of Columbo short