This is one of two Columbos based on Ed McBain's 87th Precinct cop novels, this time So Long As You Both Shall Live. The other was Columbo Undercover, based on Jigsaw, a really good 87th Precinct novel but, again, a fairly lousy, atypical Columbo ep. Why they chose to option McBain's terrific but totally incompatible novels is beyond me. By the way, the one 87th Precinct story that would at least have followed the Columbo formula was Sadie When She Died, where a man leads McBain's favorite detective, Steve Carella, on a strange trail of clues as to why he probably killed his wife. Trivia 2: You might call Columbo Undercover a true crossover with the 87th Precinct saga because Columbo was working with Det. Artie Brown, a character kept pretty much intact from the novel. But yes, No Time To Die sucked to high heaven.

I'm gonna check these books out!

"87th Precinct" was also a TV series from 1961-62 that starred Robert Lansing as Steve Carella and is available on DVD. Interestingly, the police station set for that show can be glimpsed in the movie "Cape Fear".