The Game Show Killer
TOR Columbo Series Book 4
Forge
ISBN 9780812550801
ISBN 9780783885957
Over many months, nearly a year to be more accurate, the year before last I watched the complete run of Columbo, while researching an article I wrote as an overview on the series I discovered this novel and the other 6 in the series. I also found about casebooks, and even a cookbook. I thought I would try tracking down these books and give them a try. They do not disappoint. It was almost like watching an episode, his mannerisms, his process, and even his favourite foods. This was the fourth of 6 I have read in the series. I cannot see any fan of the series not enjoying this book, and if the other 2 remaining in the series are a good I am in for some great reads!
The description of this book states:
“For over twenty-five years, Columbo has been the most popular , and persistent, detective on television, drawing millions of viewers a week. William Harrington's compelling new novel pits the famous TV detectives against one of the most brilliant and flamboyant lawyers in the country. It may seem like the perfect murder, but if there's the tiniest flaw, the famous Lieutenant Columbo will find it.”
Another description is:
“William Harrington's compelling new novel in the successful Columbo series, The Game Show Killer, pits the famous TV detective against one of the most brilliant and flamboyant lawyers in the country.
Realizing that an acquitted celebrity, even a minor one, can be worth millions, high-powered LA defense attorney Grant Kellogg decides to create his own.
He enlists Erika Bjorling, who was the co-host or "squealer" for "Try It Once," a popular prime-time game show that ran for nineteen years. Since the show's recent cancellation her career has been in a tailspin. If she can survive a few months in jail, Kellogg guarantees Bjorling an acquittal and enough money for both of them to retire in luxury. When she finds out who the victim will be, she readily agrees to the plan.
Legendary film star Tim Wylie has a sterling public image and millions of adoring fans. Privately, though, he has seduced hundreds of hopeful young actresses, including Erika Bjorling. Twenty years ago, she had fallen in love with Wylie and had his child. On learning of her pregnancy, Wylie dumped Bjorling - something for which she has never forgiven him.
Enter the famous Lieutenant Columbo, with his cigars and wrinkled raincoat, asking, "Who got dead?" Wylie's bullet-ridden body on the floor and the missing paintings point to a simple robbery. But as Columbo begins the methodically slow investigation he's noted for, he finds the parts of this case fit together too neatly, almost seamlessly. It seems like the perfect murder, but if there's the tiniest flaw, the tenacious Columbo will find it.”
I have started a rewatching of the Columbo Television Series, mainly while cooking or eating to have something on in the background. I remembered I had this volume on my Kindle but had not got around to it. When I picked it up I devoured it in under 24 hours, over 2 sittings. I stayed up way to late one night reading, then finished it the next morning after mass.
The first three stories in this series are based on real people and real events, even if extrapolated further out in time. This story from my research appears to be completely fictional, though some indicate it could be very loosely based on Rodney Alcala who was know as, "The Dating Game Killer".
This story follows a starlet who is now out of work, Erika Bjorling, who is portrayed like a Vanna White character, who is manipulated by and ex, a famous lawyer Grant Kellogg, to murder another ex and father of her previously murdered child.
This is in my opinion the best novel in the series that I have read to date. Unlike the tradition chapter method, each section of the story starts with a date and time or just the time, if on the same date. The story spans from Tuesday, April 4th -7:58 A.A. to Friday December 22, but that is more the epilogue, the main story ends on Thursday April 27th 2:01 P.M. It really reads like watching an episode. And it was like a visit with an old friend even though it had been a year between books in the series.
While researching for the review of the first volume in this series I discovered that there were also 6 Columbo novels in the 1970; 2 new stores and 4 novelizations of episodes and also a collection called The Columbo Collection of 12 stories by William Link. These 6 novels came out overlapping with the 6 of the last 8 episodes of the TV Movie Special Era.
This was a great read, in a good series. Fans of the series or for those who just like a good mystery or crime detective novel. I greatly enjoyed 2 of the other 3 novels in this series far, and I look forward to the remaining two. I can recommend this book and series.
Books about Peter Falk or Columbo:
Columbo Phile - A Casebook - Mark Dawidziak
Cooking With Columbo Suppers With The Shambling Sleuth - Jenny Hammerton
Shooting Columbo - David Koenig
The Columbo Companion, 1968-78: Investigating Every Detail of All 45 'Classic Era' Columbo Adventures - The Columbophile
...
Related Posts:
...
Columbo Books:
A Christmas Killing - Alfred Lawrence
The Dean's Death - Alfred Lawrence
Any Old Port in a Storm - Henry Clements
By Dawn's Early Light - Henry Clements
Murder by the Book - Lee Hays
A Deadly State of Mind Book - Lee Hays
The Columbo Collection – William Link
…
Columbo Novels by William Harrington:
Grassy Knoll (1993)
The Helter Skelter Murders (1994)
The Hoffa Connection (1995)
The Game Show Killer (1996)
The Glitter Murders (1997)
The Hover Files (1998)
…
Other Books by William Harrington:
Which the Justice, Which the Thief (1963)
The Power (1964)
aka The Gospel of Death
Yoshar the Soldier (1966)
aka One Over One
The Search for Elisabeth Brandt (1968)
Trial (1970)
The Jupiter Crisis (1971)
Mister Target (1974)
Scorpio 5 (1975)
Partners (1980)
The English Lady (1982)
Skin Deep (1983)
The Cromwell File (1986)
Oberst (1987)
For the Defense (1988)
Virus (1990)
Endgame in Berlin (1991)
Town on Trial (1994)
Murder at the President's Door (2001)
with Elliott Roosevelt published posthumously.
…
No comments:
Post a Comment