Better yet, Columbo could have mumbled out of the side of his mouth, “Murderer says what.” And gotten the confession right then and there!
I forget what detective show it was (A USA network one) but a detective figured out a woman was the suspects wife/girlfriend because she had big boobs and was wearing a low cut top on a cold day, and how nobody would do that unless the woman was deliberately trying to create a distraction so nobody could accurately identify the suspects face when he is was secretly commiting a crime. They grab her and eventually cause her to turn on her partner.
Maybe she was just dumb? And it was cold but not winter cold, she could have misjudged the weather. They seemingly only did that so they could load the episode with boob jokes.
Yep, as we all know, everyone dresses for the weather 100% of the time. People with a great body always refuse to flaunt it in winter, even if they know they’ll be mostly indoors that day.
Well. . . some years ago in a town down the road from me there was a convenience store robbery one night. A nude woman strolled into the store, while her accomplices boosted a case of beer. The clerk called the cops and when asked for a description could not even tell them what color hair she had. Needless to say, no surveillance camera, at least not one that was functioning.
There wasn’t an immediate arrest (at least on-scene) but in the television adaptation of the Nero Wolfe story “The Next Witness”, Wolfe, having manipulated the prosecutor into asking a question that allows him to present the results of his impromptu investigation, names the real murderers (who are present). The judge orders the bailiff to prevent the murderers from leaving the courtroom (after Archie Goodwin helpfully points out their presence to the judge).
Columbo question: was he ever depicted in a courtroom situation where he had to testify?
I have the box set and have watched the episodes multiple times. I don’t think so. I’ll say 99 percent sure.(now someone will show me where I’m wrong)
The Nailer! Did they check on the whereabouts of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin?
Nope!
I’m fond of the time that Thomas Magnum correctly surmised that a nun repairing a window was actually an assassin in disguise because “nuns don’t work on Sundays”.
I don’t remember that one, but I remember an equally stupid Encyclopedia Brown mystery.
A guy witnessed a crime while standing on his head (!) and one of the details the guy mentioned was that he could read a sign saying “CHOICE COD”. Encyclopedia Brown deduced that meant that the guy actually witnessed the crime while looking at a mirror because “CHOICE COD” is the same when read upside-down and backwards. Thus some key detail of the crime was reversed (e.g. the crook was left-handed instead of right-handed or something stupid like that).
EDIT: I misremembered some of the details of a story I read 40 years ago, unsurprisingly.
I don’t remember that story-- is there a new Encyclopedia Brown book out!?
I didn’t believe it, but I checked. it is!
Now when that comes up again in real life, I’ll be ready!
Wasn’t there also a mystery solved on a show (not Magnum PI) by recognizing that nuns don’t where makeup?
This would have made a great Mythbusters episode.
It works just fine and there are production examples made that utilize this feature. You don’t even need an entire new barrel, just a steel version of the larger cartridge with the smaller chamber bored into it. Insert the small cartridge in the adapter and place it in the chamber of the larger bore weapon. It just shoots down the middle of the larger bore.
The French used this method to use inexpensive small rounds for training in their MAS 36 rifle. They called it the “tir reduit”. The adapter cartridges are quite collectible today. And modern commercial versions have been manufactured as well.
An example
Edit: Okay, the preview on that one indicates it is for a tranquilizer gun? Same principle, though.
Yeah, that is why I cant watch Detective Goren on L&O Criminal Intent. He solves all the murders by his magic tool- he finds some small clue that points to some rich dude as the killer. Not enuf to indict, maybe not even enuf to arrest,but enuf to drag the dude in for questioning. Whereas said rich dude never- ever lawyers up, and always falls for Gorens tricks to get an incriminating statement. The show ran for 195 episodes, and yes, there was a season where Goldblum took over, but having this trick work so many times goes to unbelievable.
You could work around some of the problems in the episode - the woman had a tattoo of Trudy’s desth date, after all - and crazy Monk subconsciously saw that and associated her with Trudy believing he recognized her eyes - but since Trudy was blown up, not shot, it still doesnot work. Sigh - it’s like the screenwriter worked to make it unfanfixable
Yes, there were a lot of episodes like that. Of course you can understand why characters in these shows rarely lawyer-up: you don’t get conflict and confrontation between detective and suspect when there’s a lawyer in the room. And conflict and confrontation are the basics of such shows (along with, one hopes, an intriguing mystery).
(I have fond memories of several L&O:CI episodes, but maybe they aren’t based purely on the solutions to mysteries.)