Hi folks

Just wondered if anyone has read this original Levinson & Link short story on which was based "Enough Rope", "Prescription: Murder" and therefore, Columbo.

There's a lot of repeated information out there about it. It looks like it definitely *was* published in the March 1960 edition of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

But very many places since? I've found a reference to it being in a 1988 collection called 'Alfred Hitchcock's A Choice of Evils: Anthology II'.

Where else might I track it down, if I wanted to read? Would love to know more about it.

For instance...
How many pages long? Was it ever published as "May I Come In?" How close to "Prescription: Murder" is it?

Thanks if anyone can help.

I've just ordered a very inexpensive copy of the anthology that you mention, Dene, and I will be glad to report back here after I receive it.

For those who have not hear of this bit of Columbo pre-history, Levinson & Link said that this story ends with a knock on the door, and if the door had been opened, the cop at the door "would have been" Lieutenant Columbo!

So, Columbo is not actually in the story, but Dene raises interesting questions about it.

Thanks Ted!

As I said, upon investigation I just wondered if very many people have actually seen this short story. If you Google it, it's the exact same small bits of information that come up every time.

Columbo: Origins Unveiled

I did read Dear Corpus Delicti and this wonderful little story contains many surprising elements that I have never seen discussed anywhere, not even in The Columbo Phile, which should be interesting to all Columbo fans. In fact, I have been writing about this topic for the past two weeks and wanted to post a thread on this forum called "Columbo: Origins Unveiled" but coincidence has it that Dene has just initiated the subject so I will take this opportunity to post what I have to say about this:

For many years, it seems that the only information about Dear Corpus Delicti, the short story written by Richard Levinson and William Link in 1960 that was later used to develop Enough Rope and then Prescription: Murder, came from the Mark Dawidziak book, The Columbo Phile. For his book, Mark Dawidziak interviewed Richard Levinson who told him some details about Dear Corpus Delicti: "The story ended with a knock on the door, right before the entrance of a police officer". This led to believe that Columbo did not appear in the story.

This information was then relayed by Mark Dawidziak in his book and several radio and newspaper interviews that he did for the past 20 years. And obviously, this information was also picked up by other articles and websites over the years. However, with all due respect that I have for Mark Dawidziak and Richard Levinson: it is NOT true. In fact, Columbo DOES appear at the end of the story. He also speaks to the murderer and even manages to solve the crime in one of the quickest way he has ever done. The good Lieutenant is actually the one who says the words: "May I come in?", the alternate and original title for Dear Corpus Delicti. I am guessing that since the interview with Richard Levinson was conducted a good 25 years after this short story was written, maybe it explains why he did not remember that Columbo showed up at the end.

But this story reveals something even more interesting... For as long as Columbo existed on TV, people have always wondered about his first name and countless funny stories exist on that subject. But, Dear Corpus Delicti answers a question nobody has ever asked before: "Has Columbo ever had a different last name?" The answer is yes. In this short story, the detective solving the crime at the end is not Lt. Columbo, but Lt. Fisher (and now you know why my screen name/avatar is Fisher!). But even if his name is different, his physical description is definitely Columbo's. I do not want to reveal the ending of the story because it is a very interesting twist worth reading on a story we are all already familiar with. Otherwise, most of the elements that we know from Prescription: Murder are present: the same murder with the man strangling his wife, the helping mistress, the fight on the plane... the main difference being the fact that Columbo's investigation, or in this case, Fisher's investigation, was extremely quick. Actually, the story is 10 to 15 pages long depending on the book format you read it from...

However, I find that there are some lose ends that bother me about the whole thing (I sound like Columbo here...). I am surprised that these facts never really surfaced anywhere before more clearly. Especially by William Link who has done a few interviews these past few years about the character. Also, in the prologue of his book that came out two years ago in 2010, The Columbo Collection, he discusses about the origins of the character, but only mentions Enough Rope as being the earliest trace of the character and the Prescription: Murder storyline. I was disappointed to see that Dear Corpus Delicti was not mentioned. I then thought that maybe Enough Rope came out before the short story, but then it does not explain the name change... It is more likely that they wrote Dear Corpus Delicti first with the name Fisher and then changed it to Columbo in Enough Rope. Not the other way around. Also, The Columbo Phile states that the short story was adapted to make Enough Rope... I am going with that explanation :) Hopefully, if there's a new edition of The Columbo Phile one day, some of these elements will be clarified there.

I have actually read Dear Corpus Delicti for the first time 15 years ago and still read it once in a while. I had learned about it on an old Columbo website that does not even exist anymore, which of course took the information from The Columbo Phile. I had then looked for the story title in the many Alfred Hitchcock compilation books that were at my local library at the time and managed to find it. The funny thing is that I read the short story before seeing Prescription: Murder, which did not run on syndication at the time in my country because I guess it was probably considered a stand-alone movie. Needless to say that when I purchased Prescription: Murder from Columbia House a few years later, I was surprised to be familiar with the early part of the story even if I had never seen that movie! All right, I am now done with my long text. And obviously, I hope many of you will get to read Dear Corpus Delicti one day. It is quite amazing to read this story which inspired one of the best mystery/detective series in history.

Thank you, Fisher, for that enlightening and entertaining discussion!

Ted, have you received the book?

A good question, Peter and I am sure Ted will respond. But, I doubt it will be soon. I believe Ted lives in New Jersey which has taken the worst of Hurricane Sandy. He may still be without power.

My thoughts go out to Ted and his family, the family of Carleen (Cass) who are also NJ residents, and all the others adversely affected by this storm.