Columbo episode review — 13.2 — A Trace of Murder

Original air date: May 15, 1997
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Charles Kipps

Rating: 6/10

This episode is pretty average, but I do like the guest cast. David Rasche, Shera Danese (Falk’s wife), and Barry Corbin all give noteworthy performances in this story about a forensic expert (Rasche) who tries to frame his girlfriend’s (Danese) husband (Corbin) for murder.

This episode features more media coverage of the murder than usual, which is a bit strange for the series. It’s far from the best episode. The writing isn’t that sharp, and Falk’s performance actually leaves a bit to be desired.

The clue that Columbo notices to connect the two murderers is kind of neat, but the episode dwells on him explaining it for far too long. And ultimately the connecting tissue becomes that Danese’s character prefers the front seat to the back seat in a car, which just seems like a terrible way to solve a crime, but whatever.