In a way, I suppose you could call today's "From the Vault" selection doubly inverted. First, it's a collection of so-called "inverted" detective stories, where the reader (or audience) knows whodunit from the start - the question is, how will the detective trap the criminal? But it's also inverted, in the sense that the order of creation here is a little backwards. While many TV detectives have gotten their start in books, Lieutenant Columbo (first name unknown, at least to us) began as a television character and made the transition from the tube to the book rather than the other way around. Fortunately, Columbo's co-creator, that most extraordinary TV producer William Link, wrote a book full of short stories featuring our hero. It's called, The Columbo Collection. Here's what I had to say about the book, the character and the author, back in 2010 - as usual, somewhat edited:
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As a detective, he doesn’t always make a great impression on the people he talks to. His clothes are as rumpled as an unmade bed, and that shabby overcoat he wears doesn’t help his overall appearance. His manner – slow, deliberate, almost apologetic – sometimes inspires contempt from the guilty. Which is a mistake, as the guilty usually learn pretty quickly: Lieutenant Columbo is a formidable opponent. Consider the cases in the newly published anthology, The Columbo Collection, by William Link.
Wait a minute. Did he say “book”? I thought Columbo was a TV character!
Yes he is very much a character from television, played to perfection by Peter Falk. Columbo first appeared on television in a 1960 mystery, but the bulk of the shows aired during the 1970s. Columbo was the creation of William Link and the late Richard Levinson, who used many of the techniques of the great classic mystery authors to make their character come alive. Now, William Link has written a new collection of short stories featuring Columbo, just published by Crippen & Landru.
It’s wonderful.
The stories all follow the successful pattern of the television show: they are set up as inverted detective stories – sometimes called “howcatchems” rather than “whodunits.” The form dates back at least to 1912, when R. Austin Freeman, the creator of the Dr. Thorndyke stories, claims to have invented it. In the inverted detective story, we are first given a more-or-less detailed picture of the events leading up to the crime – usually murder – from the criminal’s perspective. Then, we are shown the game of wits between the criminal and the detective – Columbo, in this case – and learn how the culprit eventually is brought to justice.
In The Columbo Collection, we are given a dozen short stories. In each, there is a murder – and we are usually shown the criminal and see how he or she planned the crime. Columbo is sent in to solve the murder. He usually makes a poor impression on the criminal – but he is ruthlessly logical and observant, and he catches the small mistakes that inevitably lead him to the correct solution to the crime.
The stories have a variety of backgrounds: a famous lawyer murders his client; a sergeant shoots his former commander; a boxer murders one of the few men who ever beat him in the ring; a woman comes up with an ingenious plan to kill a blackmailer. Columbo rambles onto the scene, seeming absent-minded, always noticing and honing in on some obscure point which brings him ever-closer to the truth of what happened. The dialogue, too, is wonderful; if you’ve ever seen Peter Falk playing Columbo on television, you’ll instantly pick up the rightness of the words spoken here. This isn’t surprising – remember that Bill Link wrote the television episodes; these stories are merely new cases for the same detective to solve. Most of the stories end, as the TV series usually ended, with a closing line or quip from Columbo. In one of them, he cautions the killer at the end, “Sometimes you can be too careful when you plan and carry out a murder…But I really don’t think…you’ll have the opportunity to make that mistake again.”
The stories may be new, but they are very much in the classic tradition of the inverted mystery – and the character himself has been around for half a century. I’m delighted to see Columbo again – he doesn’t have a first name, you know; Link says that when Peter Falk is asked by fans what Columbo’s first name is, he replies “Lieutenant.” The stories are written with wit, and the matches between Columbo and the killers are carefully choreographed sparring contests.
The Columbo Collection also features a foreword by William Link, with a lot of fascinating information about Columbo and about the Link-Levinson partnership. These two people were responsible for a lot of hit television series – including Columbo, of course, but also such hits as Murder She Wrote, The Bold Ones, Mannix, McCloud, and The Cosby Mysteries. The New York Times referred to them as the Mr. Rolls and Mr. Royce of American Television. Link himself has won all sorts of mystery-related awards; he’s been national president of the Mystery Writers of America, and he just this year received from Malice Domestic the Poirot Award for outstanding contributions to the mystery. Whether you’re already a long-time Columbo fan from television or are a newcomer meeting him for the first time, the collection is a fine addition to your library.
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You can listen to the complete audio review by clicking here.
Next: The Golden Spiders, by Rex Stout.
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