I can't believe that he would plan, with his partner, such an extensive scheme to raise the price of bachelor's World magazine only to be so stupid as to hide her body in the Chateau and even more stupid to leave the jewelry specifically the watch, on her wrist. That's pretty brain dead.

I'm sure that out there in the Forum world that fans can come up with many others who basically arrested themselves and I would be interested to hear the list that you guys might come up with.

In starting such a list, I personally wouldn't put this episode on it. Columbo will always find the mistake or a key clue... uh, except when he doesn't, at first, and a mockery is made out of him and the LA police department (see also Blueprint for Murder). Brantley set it up well, as the chateau was the place that Columbo couldn't touch, reinforced by his superiors' orders to stay away from the place. So while leaving the watch on turned out to be the mistake -- making for one of the best endings, IMO -- I wouldn't classify it as outright stupidity; rather, the whole episode is clever, and when it comes to the usual classification (and rating) of early episodes vs. the later ones, this episode, among others, does not validate the premises upon which such distinctions are often made. And too, it's a two way street with certain early episodes exhibiting weaknesses of their own. The oft-cited observation that Cries Wolf uses the blueprint of Blueprint, so to speak, to me, is not a strike against this later episode but a tribute to its creativity in using a similar motif and pulling it all off... all except the watch, of course ;)