It occured to me that in Fade in to Murder, Ward Fowler does not fall into Columbo's usual trap of getting the murderer to explain the things Columbo asks him. You know, Columbo will say 'Can you think of a reason for such-and-such, sir?' then the murderer says something like, 'Yes, I can think of a reason. Maybe the wind blew the top down' or 'Maybe he took his shoes off(!)'. But in this episode Ward doesn't try to explain away Columbo's clues with silly explanations, which makes him look a lot less guilty. The other murderer who comes to mind is Ruth Litton from Old Fashioned Murder. Not one of my favourite episodes, but she has to be given credit for being one of only two murderers I can think of who show a bit of inteligence in this area. As Columbo says in Agenda for Murder, after Oscar Finch has just come up with a load of nonsence about athritis and spasomable quivers, 'The information you just gave me is priceless'. I suppose that is part of Columbo's genius. He makes the suspect think he is a bumbling fool who will believe any old rubbish they make up, and then they incriminate themselves with it. I mean, really! 'Maybe he took off his shoes?' What kind of explanation is that for anything? I laugh at that every time I watch Playback.

Gregg, you're right on the money! I remember back when I murde- I mean, I remember thinking that if I ever murdered someone that I wouldn't be offering the police any help. This one cop just kept- I mean, if a cop ever kept coming to me wondering if I could offer any explanations about this or that, I just said that I- I mean, I would just say that I'm just a silly civilian person who doesn't have the mind of a police officer. In other words, I let him do his- I mean, I would just let him do his own job.

Heh-heh.

Oh Headache.......was it your ex???

Errrr...

My response to Columbo's questions would not be conjecture about how the murder was committed. I would deflect his inquiries by asking him about his wife. "Why is it that your wife does not call you when she is in danger? You are a cop and her husband. Wouldn't she contact you first?"