Columbo scribe Peter S. Fischer wrote a book on his years as a writer for television called Me and Murder, She Wrote. It's a great read, well-written and frequently funny. Of course, he touches on Columbo. Most interestingly, he confirms the aliases he and Levinson & Link used if they were not happy with the final product.

Fischer used "Lawrence Vail", who is credited with the story for Old Fashioned Murder and the teleplay for Strange Bedfellows.

L&L used Ted Leighton, who is credited with the story for Lady in Waiting.

There are also non-Columbos where these aliases were used and can be found on imdb.com.

The book is highly recommended.

That's great (and "new") info, John -- thanks for sharing! It's not often that a totally unknown Columbo fact comes to light! I will check out this book.