A tribute in prose to television's greatest detective.
Wanna join in? E-mail me with your story .
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It was the spring of 1979. Disco thankfully was on the decline, I was still having a bad hair day, and L.A.'s finest had quit publicizing his homicidal triumphs (I held the conviction that somewhere, in that parallel universe where TV cops continue to clear cases outside the public eye, the good lieutenant was still breaking perfect alibis and finding that one piece of irrefutable evidence). I was studying the communicational sciences at Indiana State University under one Warren Pease (I assume his folks were Tolstoy fans), an obi-wan of the radiowave who remained fascinated by the so-called Theater of the Mind. Although the heyday of the radio drama was long past - with the exception of CBS Mystery Theater, which in coming years would divert me from arduous drives to basketball games throughout rural Indiana - Pease felt the magic of creating suspense and spinning characters without the benefit of a screen or TV tube. When Pease put to his collegiate charges the task of recreating that magic, what else could I do? Like an adolescent Dr. Frankenstein, I set out to revive the greatest detective of all TV times. The job of portraying the cat-and-mouse tension of vintage Columbo actually proved easy: The murderer revealed his motivations and methods through simple narration, and the lieutenant was able to sneak up and unnerve both his prey and an audience unprepared for his entrance. Finding the right clue was a much tougher task, but a routine trip to the grocery tipped me off, and the rest is lost college radio history (I won't reveal details, because I plan to recycle the clue in a forthcoming tale). Who donned the imaginary raincoat of the rumpled sleuth for this live drama? Need you ask? The point is, where Columbo is uniquely a creation of television - and perhaps its greatest detectival creation - the lieutenant lives on, in sitcom parodies, in bad office impersonations, and on the written page. From poor early novelistic attempts like Columbo and the Samurai to the late William Harrington's intriguing if misguided novels pitting Columbo against the mysteries of JFK's assassination, Charles Manson's continued mystique, and Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, authors have tried to recapture the full-bodied, chili-tinged flavor of Columbo. And that's the purpose of this fanfic anthology - to offer Columbo devotees just one more taste, one more tale of the greatest and most humbling cop to stumble onto a crime scene. I hope these stories, and those you may feel inspired to contribute yourself, will provide stimulating theater of the mind. If you find yourself casting the killer with your favorite thespian, or humming Henry Mancini's haunting Mystery Movie Theme as you read, then we've done the job. Enjoy. Martin Ross,
editor
Disclaimer:
Columbo is the property of Universal and ABC and the brilliant creation
of Richard Levinson and William Link and Peter Falk. The works on this
site are merely fictional homages or pastiches, and are not intended
for any commercial application or profit.PROFILES IN MYSTERY
Your
editor talks with Illinois' top mystery authors
Hugh Holton While he was a captain in the Chicago Police Department, Holton's novels about CPD detective Larry Cole often owed as much to The X-Files as to Joseph Wambaugh or NYPD Blue... Denise Swanson Swanson's detective creation, Skye Denison, is a school psychologist like her author. Fortunately, Swanson hasn't had to deal with anything more murderous than adolescent angst... Maureen Tan The maternal author of the popular Jane Nichols suspense novels is plying her craft in a new world: Cyberspace and virtual reality... Barb D'Amato Cops and comedy, issues and imagination -- Chicago's Barb D'Amato has tamed lions, tigers, and mystery... Raymond Benson Keeping Bond in business was no easy task -- travel to exotic locales, fame, fortune. But somebody had to do it... Eleanor Taylor Bland Like her detectival creation, Marti McAllister, Eleanor Taylor Bland values family, character, and social justice... |
Contents
THE ESSENTIAL COLUMBO: Vengeance is Mine
The Game is Over
Murder by Starlight
A Matter of
Principle
The Bicoastal,
Bilocated, Fly-By Murder Case 'CIDE DISHES: COLUMBITES Murder at Yule Tide
Murder With A Future
Gilhooley and the
Foul Tip
Columbo Trivia Remington Steele Fanfic Trauma Center |
