Have enjoyed all of the Harrington Columbo's. Great for plane trips or even motel nights while on a Road Trip. This one pleased as always, but I found the shoddy research bothersome. No one in Southern California heats their home with oil and to find a block of up-scale private homes on West Santa Monica Boulevard (let alone be able to close the street because of a bomb) is really a stretch. Outside of that enjoyed the book and the references to previous Columbo books. Hope the series continues (with tighter research).

This was a pretty good Columbo story. The characters were interesting and the story was well told. The only problems i had with the book was 1) it was too short 2) the killer was way too obvious (even Columbo should have figured it out by page 50!). Still, this book is a great way to spend an afternoon

This was a good, but predictable, Columbo story. I just wish they wouldn't tell who did it and why right up front. Would be more fun to try to figure it out right along with Columbo.

when the personal lives and political positions of the members of law firms take precedence over the portrayal of a social issue in a judicial setting,a novel ceases its claim to the genre of legal fiction. this book is about wealth,privilege and one-upmanship, not about any quest for justice.its tone is swallow and spiteful. it is unfortunate that the author does not follow his own advice about story-telling(p.308):"it's meant to grow on you.you're supposed to become involved in the characters and want to know what's going to happen to them." these characters are nearly indefensible.

Compared to his other 'Columbo' works, this is by far Harrington's worst. I never thought I'd see the day when I couldn't wait to finish a Columbo mystery just to finish it and get it over with, rather than for the finale where our hero normally breaks down the case and explains all. As it is in this one he explains bugger all and the 'Hoffa connection' is both ludicrous AND unnecessary. Top that with the fact that the Columbo we see in this book is so far removed from our beloved Columbo on TV that it looks like an entirely different detective PLUS the fact that one of the main characters, Mickey, switches from a last name of Newcastle to Newhouse with irritating regularity and you've got yourself a pretty lame effort... sorry!

What happened? Columbo would be deeply saddened to read how his character has been so trivialized and packaged for sensational appeal. So much of this story is padded with solicitous sex and violence. What dose oral sex have to do with case? Do we need to read how some second-level victims are "blown apart" by a large caliber weapon? Who can't tell what the Hoffa connection is going to be from the very start? I was very disappointed in the handling of this. There is a very minimal story line to begin with and the superfluous verbiage just makes it more tedious. Mr. Harrington can do better than this. You don't have to print ANYTHING; wait until you have the kind of story line that was so evident in the original TV series. That's what brings in the interest. What we've been given is an overdose of rumpled fluff and all the references to semen, gore and peek-a-boo sex don't make this a hotter, more palatable bowl of chili.

For those of you who have watched the Columbo show for many years, you will be sorely disappointed by this book, as well as the entire Columbo series. The brilliance of the old show was the subtlety in which Columbo got things done. Here, all the subtlety is pushed to the front as the reader can barely go 5 pages without a reference to Mrs. Columbo. There is no panache in which the murder is solved. No, hard-hitting Columbo. Just boring, diffuse, loose ends, that when they come together, you wish you would have sat down and watched on of the episodes that you've already seen 20 times.