New book to shed light on unproduced Columbo mysteries!

It takes some pretty significant news to force me out of blogging semi-retirement, but that was precisely the case when I learned that author David Koenig is about to unleash a second Columbo tome on an expectant public.

Koenig’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Shooting Columbo of 2021 (buy it now if you haven’t already got it), Unshot Columbo: Cracking the Cases that Never Got Filmed focuses on 19 murder mysteries that never made it to our screens – and outline why we never got to see them.

Amongst the many Columbo stories crafted but never filmed include 1970s tales by “murder consultant” Larry Cohen and a young Brian De Palma, an aborted pilot for Mrs. Columbo that was reimagined for the good Lieutenant, and the legendary last case that Peter Falk desperately hoped would drop the curtain on Columbo’s televisual career.

The book came about after Koenig’s research into the production of the show prior to writing Shooting Columbo revealed a large number of scripts or story treatments that, for varying reasons, never got over the line.

Rather than me fill you in the background myself, I contacted David, who provided the following intel on the inspiration behind Unshot Columbo…

“The idea for the new book came while researching Shooting Columbo. Whenever the press asked Peter Falk why he didn’t make more episodes each season, he cited a lack of good scripts as the primary reason. His producers and story editors backed him up on this, constantly complaining there were never enough quality scripts. They claimed that, because the show contained so much back-and-forth between two characters, and so little action, and audience expected every clue to be ingenious, very few writers could get the hang of it.

“I sort of took their word for it, based on the number of clunkers that were produced over the years. If Grand Deceptions was the best script they had on hand, the ones that were rejected must have really been dismal.

“But the more of these unused scripts I turned up, the more I realized that a good many of the rejects were brilliant. There had to be other reasons why they were passed over. And that began a three-year hunt for discarded Columbos. I ended up tracking down 19 that almost made the cut. Most of them were purchased by the show and assigned production numbers, although I did include a couple by Jackson Gillis, Robert van Scoyk, and Larry Cohen that didn’t progress beyond treatment, because—due to the stature of those writers—their submissions already had one foot in the door.

“There were some amazing discoveries along the way, including the sensational script that Falk would tweak into Columbo’s Last Case and—the most stunning revelation to me—the Mrs. Columbo pilot script by Peter Fischer, Dick Levinson, and Bill Link that Link attempted to revive 10 years later for the Columbo reboot. It’s a doozy!”

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If that isn’t enough to wet your whistle, I don’t know what is! Needless to say, this is a book that demands a place on any Columbo afficionados bookshelf. Unshot Columbo will officially be released on May 1, 2024, but can be pre-ordered direct from the publisher, with shipping to begin in mid-April.

Find out more or order your copy here.

In unrelated news, I’m pleased to report that my daughter is creeping ever closer to the end of her treatment. She has five weeks of radiation therapy to come, which ought to be relatively easy on her compared to some of the horrid side effects she’s suffered from earlier this year. Thanks again for all your kind words and well wishes!