Television Episode | Crime Drama | USA | English | 1h16m
Dir: Bernard Kowalski | Scr: Richard Levinson & William Link | Ph: Russell L. Metty | Prod: Richard Levinson & William Link | Mus: Gil Mellé | Ed: Edward M. Abroms | AD: Arch Bacon | Snd: David H. Moriarty | Cast: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Patricia Crowley, Ray Milland, Brett Halsey, Eric James, Don Keefer, Len Wayland, Lieux Dressler, Barbara Baldavin
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When the director of a large detective agency is hired to investigate the fidelity of a prominent millionaire’s young trophy wife, instead of reporting his findings accurately, he decides to blackmail the guilty young woman instead. However, when she not only rebuffs his proposal, but also threatens to bring his dubious business methods to the attention of her husband – on whose mercy she intends to throw herself – he flies into a rage and accidentally kills her. Never the less, with his stock still high in the eyes of the millionaire, he finds himself hired to investigate her murder alongside the police. Gently shifting suspicion away from himself whenever possible, he soon comes to believe that he will get away with his crimes, but doesn’t count on the keen eye and dogged determination of a certain Lt. Columbo. Formally adventurous, with Abroms’s editing again catching the eye, the atypically plotted Death Lends a Hand entertains throughout.
