1.1: Murder by the Book

Murder by the Book is the first regular episode of the Columbo series following the two pilot films, and it immediately establishes the show’s signature formula: the audience watches the crime unfold and then observes Lt. Columbo slowly dismantle the killer’s carefully constructed narrative. The episode is also notable historically because it was directed by a young Steven Spielberg and features Jack Cassidy as the murderer, Ken Franklin. Cassidy became one of the most recognizable recurring villains in the series, eventually appearing as the killer in three separate episodes, making him one of Columbo’s most memorable adversaries. Jack Cassidy

Ken Franklin is one half of a successful mystery-writing duo, Ferris and Franklin, creators of the popular “Mrs. Melville” detective novels. In reality, however, Franklin contributes little to the actual writing while his partner Jim Ferris produces the books. When Ferris announces that he intends to dissolve the partnership and write independently, Franklin realizes that his lucrative lifestyle is about to collapse. The publishing contract and royalty arrangement mean that Franklin’s income depends almost entirely on Ferris continuing to produce books under their joint brand. Faced with the prospect of financial ruin, Franklin decides to murder Ferris and stage the crime in a way that suggests a professional kidnapping and murder rather than a personal betrayal.

Franklin’s plan is relatively elaborate and unfolds in multiple stages. First, he lures Ferris from his Los Angeles office to his remote lakeside cabin near San Diego under the pretense of discussing business. Once there, Franklin shoots him. To conceal the murder, Franklin attempts to create the impression that Ferris was abducted from his office earlier that day. He accomplishes this by making a series of timed telephone calls to Ferris’s office answering service, leaving messages that appear to come from Ferris after he has already been killed. This strategy is meant to establish a false timeline suggesting Ferris was alive and working late in the office while Franklin was elsewhere.

After killing Ferris, Franklin hides the body temporarily and continues reinforcing the kidnapping narrative. He even places the body on his own property later in order to strengthen the idea that the killing was the work of a professional hit rather than a personal crime. The logic of this move reflects Franklin’s belief that organized criminals often dispose of bodies in highly visible places as a warning. By framing the death as a contract killing tied to Ferris’s success or financial dealings, Franklin hopes investigators will search for unknown enemies rather than scrutinize the business partner who appears cooperative and helpful during the investigation.

When Columbo enters the case, he quickly becomes suspicious of Franklin’s eagerness to shape the investigation. Franklin repeatedly offers theories about the crime, insisting that it must have been carried out by professional killers. Rather than challenge these claims directly, Columbo quietly studies the inconsistencies in Franklin’s narrative. One of the earliest clues involves the mechanics of the supposed kidnapping. The staged telephone messages rely on precise timing and technological manipulation, but the pattern of calls raises questions about whether Ferris could realistically have made them himself. As Columbo examines the timeline more closely, he begins to suspect that the phone calls were part of a staged alibi rather than genuine communication from the victim.

A major complication for Franklin arises when Lilly La Sanka, a bookstore owner who admires him romantically, inadvertently connects herself to the crime. She notices suspicious behavior and realizes Franklin may have killed his partner. Seeing an opportunity for leverage, she attempts to blackmail Franklin by threatening to reveal what she knows unless he begins a relationship with her. Franklin responds by committing a second murder, killing La Sanka to eliminate the witness. This second killing becomes a turning point in the investigation because, unlike the carefully planned murder of Ferris, the second crime is far more careless. Columbo later remarks that while the first murder was clever, the second one was sloppy.

The evidence linking Franklin to La Sanka’s death is largely circumstantial but significant. Columbo discovers a signed copy of one of Franklin’s books addressed personally to La Sanka, contradicting Franklin’s claim that he barely knew her. He also finds physical evidence such as a champagne cork connected to a bottle Franklin had taken with him to his cabin. These details establish that Franklin had contact with La Sanka shortly before her death, undermining his attempts to distance himself from her. Once Columbo begins reconstructing Franklin’s movements around the time of the second murder, it becomes increasingly difficult for Franklin to maintain his story.

The final piece of the puzzle emerges from Ferris’s own habits as a writer. Ferris frequently wrote down ideas for future mystery plots in notebooks. Among these notes, Columbo discovers a detailed outline describing the exact murder method Franklin used, including the telephone timing trick that created the false alibi. The significance of this discovery is twofold. First, it demonstrates that the murder method was originally conceived as a fictional plot device. Second, it shows that Franklin himself had previously discussed the idea with Ferris. When confronted with the notebook, Franklin realizes that the murder he believed was perfect has effectively been documented in advance by the victim.

From an evidentiary perspective, the case against Franklin is built on several layers of circumstantial evidence that reinforce one another. The first element is motive. Franklin faced severe financial consequences if Ferris ended their partnership. The second element is opportunity. Franklin arranged the meeting that brought Ferris to the isolated cabin where the murder occurred. The third element is behavioral evidence. Franklin repeatedly attempts to steer the investigation toward theories involving professional killers, behavior that suggests he is trying to control the narrative rather than discover the truth.

The second murder significantly strengthens the prosecution’s case. Franklin’s attempts to conceal his connection to La Sanka fail once Columbo identifies physical evidence linking them. Prosecutors could argue that Franklin killed her because she possessed information about Ferris’s murder. Establishing a second killing tied to witness elimination would strongly support the theory that Franklin committed the original murder as well.

The notebook containing the murder plot would likely become the most compelling piece of evidence at trial. While it does not prove Franklin committed the crime by itself, it demonstrates that the murder method was directly associated with him and discussed between the two partners long before the crime occurred. When combined with the telephone timing trick used in the murder, the notebook creates a powerful narrative that Franklin simply enacted the fictional scenario he once proposed.

In terms of conviction probability, the case would likely be quite strong. Prosecutors could present a coherent timeline showing Franklin lured Ferris to the cabin, staged the telephone alibi, and then killed a second witness who threatened to expose him. The combination of motive, opportunity, the staged phone calls, and the documentary evidence in Ferris’s notes would likely persuade a jury that the crime was planned and executed by Franklin. Even if Franklin avoided a full confession, the cumulative weight of the evidence would be difficult to overcome.

Ultimately, Murder by the Book encapsulates a core theme that appears throughout Columbo: the danger of intellectual arrogance. Franklin prides himself on being a mystery writer capable of designing the perfect crime. Yet his downfall comes from the same source as his plan. The murder method he believed was brilliant had already been recorded by his partner as a potential story idea. In the end, Franklin commits what is literally a murder “by the book,” and the very act of turning fiction into reality becomes the evidence that exposes him.