I agree. I've got all the Harrington Columbo books and none of them were faithful in any way to the spirit of the show. They were almost the opposite, in fact - the mystery takes a back seat to the very graphic levels of sex and violence. Plus he tries to shoehorn in little historical elements like the Kennedy assassination, Jimmy Hoffa, Charles Manson and J. Edgar Hoover's files. What next? Columbo vs. Dracula?
Plus, Columbo did very un-Columbo-esc things like talk about sex without appearing uncomfortable and constantly accepting drinks while on duty. In retrospect they were all fairly lame.