Last night I was watching, for about the eight thousandth time, "Murder by the Book" and spotted a major goof.

When Ken Franklin's partner Jim Ferris' body is found on Franklin's lawn in Los Angeles we hear police radios chattering in the background.

Later in the episode after Franklin kills Lilly La Sanka we again hear police radios in the background as Lilly's body is dredged from a lake outside San Diego. However, the radios in both scenes contain the same voices speaking the same words as in the opposite scene.

The same exact words spoken on two different days in two different parts of California??

Yeah, Universal used that stock-audio clip a lot. I've even heard it in McCloud and Banacek.

You might be interested to know that the lady behind the dispatcher's voice has appeared in several Columbo episodes too ... most notably as the seamstress in "Swan Song" and as a Hayward house guest in "Candidate For Crime".

That lady is Lucille Meredith, not necessarily a household name.

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Replying to:

Yeah, Universal used that stock-audio clip a lot. I've even heard it in McCloud and Banacek.

You might be interested to know that the lady behind the dispatcher's voice has appeared in several Columbo episodes too ... most notably as the seamstress in "Swan Song" and as a Hayward house guest in "Candidate For Crime".

You are 100% correct and I've always wondered about that myself. In fact, the same voice and the same words can be heard in another Columbo episode. I forget which one right now, but it will come to me.

Yup, I also believe it's used in at least one Rockford lol.