Music conductor Alex Benedict has an affair with a pianist, and when the pianist threatens to reveal their affair to Benedict's wife, whose wealthy mother owns the company on which Benedict's career is dependent, Benedict decides to permanently silence his mistress. He strangles her and arranges for her death to look like a suicide by kitchen stove gas asphyxiation. (imdb)

Tony Goodland's wife is straying. He believes that money will bring her back to him, but while he leads a comfortable life, most of his massive inheritance is in a trust fund that can only be accessed in extraordinary circumstances. Tony's uncle Jarvis, an expert in orchids, proposes a plan: he will help Tony fake his own kidnapping, which will allow Tony to gain a good portion of his trust fund unsuspected. (imdb)

The owner of a football team is found dead in a swimming pool. It looks like an accident, a slip and fall. However, Columbo doesn't really believe in this being an accident and investigates the accident as if it was a murder case. However, the person he suspects has a powerful alibi. (imdb)

Lilian Stanhope and Nicholas Frame are two actors in London. They have to act in Macbeth and the producer is Sir Roger Haversham who is Lilian's lover. Sir Roger finds out he has been deceived by the couple and he threatens to interrupt the performance. Lilian kills him accidentally during a fight and afterwards the two actors take the corpse to his mansion, staging an accident. But Lt. Columbo is in London to learn about the new methods to investigate used by Scotland Yard. (imdb)

Faded movie actress Nora Chandler is being blackmailed by a gossip columnist, Jerry Parks. Parks is also romancing Chandler's secretary, who knows all the great star's secrets. Chandler in desperation blows up the columnist's car - but it turns out her secretary was the one driving. Lt. Columbo, one of Nora's biggest fans, is on the case. (imdb)

Dr. Barry Mayfield is a highly successful and respected surgeon, but his methods leave a lot to be desired. A fellow nurse becomes suspicious about his procedures in sewing up internal organs after 'successful' operations. The good doctor kills her before she spills the beans, but Mayfield doesn't count on detective Columbo investigative skills which quickly uncovers a trail of murderous events. (imdb)

Chess grandmaster Emmett Clayton's title, not to mention his ego, are threatened when an ex-girlfriend convinces retired Soviet player Tomlin Dudek to challenge him. Dudek is Clayton's superior in every way at chess, but Clayton refuses to accept defeat. He plots to murder his erstwhile rival before the match can take place. (imdb)

The smarmy TV chef, Dexter Paris, has a rich uncle who is about to marry a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. The uncle's nephew visits him while he takes a bath, plugs in an egg beater and throws it into the tub, electrocuting the old man. But when the young fiancee and a trusted housekeeper discover the body, it's clothed in a sweatsuit and slumped over an exercise bike. It looks as if he had had a heart attack while riding it. (imdb)

Columbo attends the wedding of his nephew, who is also with the LAPD. Suddenly it turns out that the bride is missing, possibly kidnapped. (imdb)