Just One More Thing: Murder By The Book

Notes and screenshots for Murder By The Book: Originally broadcast on September 15 1971, starring Martin Millner as mystery author Jim Farris, the great Jack Cassidy his scheming partner, Barbara Colby as collateral damage and, of course, Peter Falk as Columbo.

"When one member of a mystery writing team decides to break from his less talented partner and go solo, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery."

-IMDB Summary

"For our latest, we go back to Columbo‘s first episode (yes, yes- there was the TV movie and then the pilot, but this is the first episode), directed by a young go-getter named Steven Spielberg. It’s Jack Cassidy’s first turn as a murderous creep, killing his writing partner (Martin Milner), rather than letting him break up the team. Joining us is The AV Club‘s Gwen Ihnat, who wrote a wonderful column about Columbo‘s best episodes a little while ago."

-RJ's episode summary

Listen to the original podcast episode here:
Episode 15: I'm Just Another Cop with guest Gwen Inhat

Murder By The Book
Season 1, Episode 1

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Steven Bochco

The Robert Culp episodes of Columbo are always great, Culp just drips guilt - BUT, I think my favorite recurring killer is Jack Cassidy, he plays each role like a gleeful latex puppet, happy about the most recent murder but always looking forward to the next one. Y’kinda root for the guy, you know?

(The victim and murderer are a pair of mystery writers, and one of their collabs uses the same title as the stage play which debuted Columbo. Neat. Cute.)

Worth mentioning the creative pairing of Steven Bochco and Steven Spielberg. Bochco would return to do more Columbo, Spielberg won’t - Jaws is still, like, four years away, but Spielberg apparently has enough on his plate in the interim (three TV movies and a Goldie Hawn vehicle, specifically).

Next episode: Death Lends A Hand