Murder by the Book

1971 television film directed by Steven Spielberg, episode of Columbo
Movie television_film Q4468634
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Summary

Murder by the Book is a television film[1]. It is known by 16 alternative names across languages and contexts.[2]

Key Facts

  • Instance of: television series episode[3], series premiere[4]
  • Director: Steven Spielberg[5]
  • Screenwriter: Steven Bochco[6]
  • Composer: Billy Goldenberg[7]
  • Genre: crime film[8]
  • Follows: Ransom for a Dead Man[9]
  • Followed by: Death Lends a Hand[10]
  • Cast member: Peter Falk[11], Jack Cassidy[12], Martin Milner[13], Barbara Colby[14], Rosemary Forsyth[15], Lynnette Mettey[16], Bernie Kuby[17], Hoke Howell[18], Marcia Wallace Peams[19], Haven Earle Haley[20]
  • Producer: Richard Levinson[21], William Link[22]
  • Part of the series: Columbo[23]
  • Production company: Universal Pictures[24]
  • Director of photography: Russell Metty[25]
  • Original language of film or TV show: English[26]
  • Original broadcaster: NBC[27]
  • Color: color[28]
  • Country of origin: United States[29]
  • Publication date: September 15, 1971[30], January 12, 1973[31], August 2, 1978[32], April 10, 1975[33]
  • Described at URL: https://columbophile.com/2018/03/25/full-episode-columbo-murder-by-the-book/[34], https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-eng/idmovie-20177[35], https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/42800/columbo-1x03-murder-by-the-book[36]
  • Described by source: Internet Movie Cars Database[37]
  • Title: Murder by the Book[38]
  • Duration: 76 minutes[39]
  • Aspect ratio (W:H): 4:3[40]
  • Season: Columbo, season 1[41]
  • P14724: 11481900[42]
  • P14821: 66932[43]

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [40] ↑ . bluray.highdefdigest.com. Retrieved . bluray.highdefdigest.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  39. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  40. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  41. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Murder by the Book. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/murder-by-the-book
MLA “Murder by the Book.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 17 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/murder-by-the-book.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_murder-by-the-book_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Murder by the Book}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/murder-by-the-book}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-17}}
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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 21d ago · Rémi sim · 2026-09-28 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['de', 'ro', 'ru']
    P14724 → 11481900
    Sitelink count → 3
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ P14724: 11481900, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/301953358|Murder by the Book (#301953358)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/8232|Garance ite"
  2. 7w ago · MsMorale · 2026-08-29 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14821 → 66932
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14821: 66932, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269672|batch #269672]]"
  3. 9w ago · KrBot bot · 2026-08-16 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Moviepilot.de film id → columbo-toedliche-trennung
    Ldif id → 27433
    Followed by → Death Lends a Hand
    Google knowledge graph id → /g/122fpynl
    + 46 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetreference-set:2| */ Internet archive id: columbo/Columbo.S01E02.1971.Murder.by.the.Book.720p.BluRay.mkv, см. / see [[Template:Autofix|autofix]] на / on [[Property talk:P248]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.