Robert E. Meredith

Ruth Etting is looking to get away from the glare of publicity for a few days so she heads to the countryside and takes a room in a small boardinghouse. She makes the acquaintance of the owner and her young son who works as a soda jerk in the ice cream parlor and notices that he is teased by the other kids in town so she comes up with a way to help. Ruth sings "St. Louis Blues" & "It Had to Be You".

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.