[1][2] Two of the episodes, "No Time to Die" and "Undercover", were based on 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain and thus do not follow the usual Columbo format.
Rusk threatens to expel spoiled fraternity brothers Justin Rowe (Stephen Caffrey) and Cooper Redman (Gary Hershberger) for cheating by stealing the final exam.
While sitting at the lecture, they monitor the parking garage using a miniature TV camera and shoot Rusk by his car with a remote-controlled gun, both devices being hidden in their pickup truck's engine compartment.
Rowe and Redman plant the murder weapon in that vehicle, but after it is found, Columbo reveals it is actually his wife's car.
Wade Anders (George Hamilton) is a former security consultant, and now host of the popular America's Most Wanted-esque crime show CrimeAlert.
One day, he gets an unexpected visit from his rival, the chain-smoking newscaster Budd Clarke (Peter Haskell), whom he blocked from becoming the CrimeAlert host.
Final clue/twist: Columbo can prove that the surveillance tape was fabricated, because the trees and bushes visible in front of the office appeared to have been trimmed in the morning, but had supposedly grown again by the evening.
Rock star Marcy Edwards (Cheryl Paris) has been the live-in lover of high-priced murder lawyer Hugh Creighton (Dabney Coleman) for several years.
However, Marcy blackmails Creighton into letting her stay, at least until he comes up with the $5 million she is demanding in exchange for not filing a palimony suit against him or exposing his unconventional practice methods.
Also, marks on Edwards neck matched the gloves found in the gardener's truck that had been stolen, parked on a particular street where an unusual type of tree grows, and returned.
Given a deadline to pay his debts, or else, chronic gambler Harold McCain (Greg Evigan) plants a bomb under the Rolls-Royce of his uncle, professional football team owner Big Fred (Steve Forrest).
Final clue/twist: The TV news tape shows Harold closing his eyes before the Rolls-Royce exploded, thus proving that he knew there was a bomb under the car.
In both episodes, murders occur off screen, and both were scripted by Columbo veteran Jackson Gillis (this was his final contribution to the series).
The episode used footage of a Saskatchewan Roughriders vs Edmonton Eskimos CFL game to represent fictional American football teams with the same initials, the Stallions and the Elks.
Wealthy socialites Lauren Staton (Faye Dunaway) and Lisa Martin (Claudia Christian) conspire to murder their abusive, two-timing lover Nick Franco (Armando Pucci).
Lisa stays behind in the apartment, keeping the body warm for several hours with an electric blanket until Lauren returns to the complex and begins talking with the building manager (Bill Macy).
An ex-employee, the homosexual Gerry Winters (Jack Laufer), has been encouraging Victoria and has even found a literary agent for her book.
Irving Krutch (Ed Begley Jr.), a crooked insurance investigator, enlists the help of Columbo to solve a series of murders that starts when two men, each of whom possesses a piece of a photograph, kill each other in a burglary gone wrong.
Burt Young has a cameo as a small time hood and Columbo does comic relief in the roles of a mob wise guy and a gang boss.
This breaks his alibi.This is the second episode in which no murder is committed by the main criminal Graham McVeigh (George Wendt) is a thoroughbred ranch owner, and he is tired of his brother Teddy being in constant debt to mob bookie and restaurateur Bruno Romano.
Under the pretense of getting fresh air, Graham gets out, walks around the car, steps up to Teddy's window and shoots him, then rides home on a folding bike he stashed in the trunk.
Cathleen Calvert (Falk's wife Shera Danese, in her sixth and final appearance) and her lover, crime scene investigator Patrick Kinsley (David Rasche), are weary of having to see each other on the sly.
So the lovers scheme to get him out of the way by killing Howard Seltzer (Raye Birk), an investment broker who is suing him, then framing Clifford for the murder.
Final clue/twist: At a restaurant, Columbo sees Kingsley move artificial sweetener towards Cathleen Calvert when they all receive coffee.
If they had never met, as they claimed to Columbo, Kinsley would not have known that Cathleen prefers the front seat because she easily gets car sick when sitting in the back, or that she takes artificial sweetener with her coffee.
A wedding photographer's shot of the Calvert couple dancing also helps reveal that the cat hair found on Clifford's suit jacket was planted by Cathleen, while an earlier photograph shows that Clifford did not have cat hair on his suit jacket prior to dancing with Cathleen.
Chandler threatens Prince that her next exposé will be about how 20 years earlier, he stole a valuable diamond from the body of a deceased silent film star.
Final clue/twist: Houston suffered a war injury in which a distinctively-shaped piece of shrapnel remained stuck in his body for the rest of his life.
While giving a toast, Crawford drugs Gabe, then takes his body up to his rooftop rehearsal place, which happens to be atop a trapdoor to a freight elevator.
When the elevator doors open, Gabe's unconscious body is pushed over the side and falls to his death, landing in front of a late-arriving couple.