Agreed, "Grand Deceptions" is a guilty Columbo pleasure of mine. "Do you see this box marked 'military miniatures'? That would be toy soldiers, sir." "Don't patronize me, Lieutenant!"
I'm glad I purchased the entire set of the Columbo episodes because I don't worry about the edited portions. I thought it was the mud that solved the case. I didn't pay attention to the books, just the mud. Interesting topic.