I'm not so sure about that. DNA tends to be able to put people at a scene but most murders were committed in places the murderers could be expected to be anyway.

Murder By The Book is a bit weak. As far as I can recall Columbo hasn't proved that the murder was committed as Ken Franklin's holiday home and simply assumes the jury will be persuaded that someone has carried out that story idea. I think the clues are there I just can't remember them.

The technical worse has to be Murder With Too Many Notes simply because we pretty much all agree we don't understand in.

As for good ones An Exercise In Fatality is certainly a contender so is Candidate For Crime even if the episode sometimes drags a bit that is one of the most satisfying pay offs.

Oh and I should put this here because the entire reason I came to like Columbo was from seeing the ending, and only the ending at the time, of Suitable For Framing.

Murder by the Book gets my vote as best episode with most disappointing ending...that one should have had an ending with a bigger bang,so to speak.
but one of my fave episodes
Falk himself has said that the "Big Clues" were the hardest thing to write...coming up with two or three good ones and a final whopper.
My fave ending, as I've stated before, is Friend in Deed...because I truly did NOT expect it...despite the entrapment element....but again, Columbo is NOT about law perfection etc...it is a cat and mouse premise...and on that note, nothing is better than Columbo...

I don\'t see how Friend in Deed is entrapment. Entrapment is when police put situations in place for unsuspecting people to commit or try to commit a crime. In this situation the crime has already been committed.

That ending is very similar to the ending of Columbo goes to College. Where he uses his wife\'s car to plant the gun.

Some of my favorite endings are

Suitable for Framing
Candidate for Crime
Double Exposure
A Friend in Deed
Negative Reaction
A Deadly State of Mind

one of my least favorite is Short Fuse. Roddy McDowell on his hands and knees chasing cigars around the floor is a bit too silly.

Firstly, I love Columbo & despite his repetitive nature in stalking his prey, never fail to enjoy watching the legend Peter Falk made his own. I have read all the reviews on websites like this and believe I have seen probably 80% of the Columbo genre, but this leaves me with a dilemma... I live in the UK & I wonder whether some episodes aren't shown over here, so please excuse my ignorance with answering the best and worst endings...

I have to hold my hand up and say this ending could be Peter Falk related rather than Columbo related.

Ultimately I'm looking for help with the identification of the film.

"An industrial sized computer goes missing in some kind of deception." The ending has our man standing at the back of a lorry trailer and when he opens the trailer doors, the computer is there large as life. Our man, explains to his audience including his suspect, that the computer had been in the lorry all along & he only discovered this by measuring the interior of the trailer, which differed from the exterior by some margin. The manner of the reveal is typical 70's mystery style and could be one of the Columbos I have not seen or perhaps one of Peter Falk's other films.

Any help you can provide would be fantastic. Thanks!

I never got to know it TERRIBLY well, but that sounds more like a BANACEK ending. Not any particular episode that I can think of, just the general idea of the show (I think he was always solving crimes that were committed in a very "gimmicky" way, like the one you describe). Of course, it started around the same time as COLUMBO (maybe ' 72 instead of ' 71), though it didn't last as long.

My favorite ending (or one of them) is in "Columbo Goes to College". Those two punks thought they outsmarted Columbo all along, but in the end, they finally got theirs. It was a joy to see them go down finally.