When Peter Falk passed away last year, we lost one of the great television actors of our time. Falk played the role of Lieutenant Columbo, an unkempt homicide detective in a shabby raincoat who drove around in a dilapidated Peugeot convertible. Columbo often aired on Sunday night, and it was that type of rare show that could engage both parents and teenagers for a brief respite together before work and school began on Monday morning.
Like many effective lawyers, Columbo had the uncanny ability to conduct himself in a manner that lulled his opponents into underestimating his abilities. He plodded through life, and his questioning often rambled on in an absentminded way. When it looked like he would finally relent and leave the suspect be, he often returned to the interrogation with a more pointed question. While exiting from a door, he would turn and interject his trademark line: “Just one more thing.” That last point or question often exposed the criminal.
