Fred,

I need to watch that episode a couple of more times....that quote you mentioned really is the essence of the Columbo character. She knows him. He's got a pit bull's jaw yet a basset hounds personality.

In "Death Lends a Hand," Columbo figured it out in the beginning with the ring and he went on from there. The scene where Mr. Brimmer and Mr. Kennicutt are at the cemetery while Columbo is looking for the "missing" contact lens after exhuming Mrs. Kennicutt's body. Columbo comes back to the car and says that "he wishes the murderer would be here to know about the missing contact lens" (correct me if I am wrong). He realizes that Mr. Brimmer committed the crime and he is setting him up. It leads to where he catches Mr. Brimmer at the repair shop. This show had more examples of good detective work -- when Mr. Brimmer wanted to hire him and take him off the case and give him another assignment, and the fact that the murderer was left handed and Mr. Brimmer was left handed.

Good show.

I think the comment about the killer being most likely left-handed was an excellent example. I think it's also a case of where Columbo tries to rattle his prime suspect and even gets Brimmer to go through the actual, physical motion of how Columbo thought the killer may have struck Mrs. Kennicut:

And this is Brimmer I'm quoting:
"..And if the ring was on the right hand, then the bruise would be on the right cheek.
But it was on the left cheek, so the murderer was left-handed.
Struck her like this.
Which means the murderer is left-handed.
Well, that's interesting..."

Lady in Waiting: Noticing the newspaper and asking how did it get there?

Blueprint for Murder: noticing the car radio was set on a classical station but whose owner was a country and western fan.

Fade in to Murder: notice the bullet hole in dress and the wound in body indicated the victim had their hands up in the air when killed, so was not killed in a random panic attack but premeditated.