“No Such Thing as a Perfect Murder”

We told you a couple of days ago that novelist Mark Billingham (Death Message) had made a radio tribute to that popular American TV detective series, Columbo. It was broadcast yesterday on Britain’s BBC 4, but is now available to listeners outside of the UK via the network’s “Listen Again” archives page. Simply click here. (You’ll need to have the RealPlayer program installed on your computer to hear the show. Download that for free here.)

During this half-hour special, called Just One More Thing: Columbo!, Billingham and his guests (who include star Peter Falk, Columbo co-creator William Link, writer Steven Bochco, and two-time guest star Robert Vaughn) talk about the series’ inverted mystery format, the difficulty of putting together the show’s first season (“migraine country all the way,” recalls Link), how a golf tournament prevented Bing Crosby from starring in the series, and Lieutenant Columbo’s distinctive disinterest in making an impression on people. For longtime fans like me, there’s plenty here to provoke a smile.

Listen now, because the BBC makes its archives of shows available to the public for only a limited period of time. Go directly to Billingham’s broadcast here. Or find it via BBC 4’s Listen Again page, and scroll down until you locate the link to Just One More Thing: Columbo!