Robert Culp is our guest murderer in this Columbo story and he's not about to get fired by Robert Middleton whom he works for. For such a clever guy he concocts a rather clumsy blackmail scheme in which Middleton calls his hand. Therefore he has to murder him.
It's in a large building so it's one of those closed circles mysteries albeit a large circle. No one's left the building in the short time it takes LAPD and Lt. Columbo to get there. So Peter Falk has a specific set of suspects to eliminate. As usual he zeroes in on the right one.
Culp is a market research analyst who in the course of the investigation Columbo discovers has written books. Why contract employment with Middleton was so important is never really explained. Presumably this guy could get offers all over the place for his market analyzing.
He does however concoct a perfect murder alibi and a method of murdering Middleton that is clever with Culp's own expertise working full blast. Later on he has to murder film projectionist Chuck McCann who has caught on to his guilt. Even that where he uses Peter Falk as an alibi works for a while.
To catch him Falk has to hoist Culp on his petard so to speak.
This Columbo episode left quite a bit to be desired.
It's in a large building so it's one of those closed circles mysteries albeit a large circle. No one's left the building in the short time it takes LAPD and Lt. Columbo to get there. So Peter Falk has a specific set of suspects to eliminate. As usual he zeroes in on the right one.
Culp is a market research analyst who in the course of the investigation Columbo discovers has written books. Why contract employment with Middleton was so important is never really explained. Presumably this guy could get offers all over the place for his market analyzing.
He does however concoct a perfect murder alibi and a method of murdering Middleton that is clever with Culp's own expertise working full blast. Later on he has to murder film projectionist Chuck McCann who has caught on to his guilt. Even that where he uses Peter Falk as an alibi works for a while.
To catch him Falk has to hoist Culp on his petard so to speak.
This Columbo episode left quite a bit to be desired.