Upon his arrest, Franklin makes a startling comment: the alibi idea was in fact his, the only good one he ever had. He confronts Franklin with it, and Franklin confesses. The two have an intimate dinner in the back of her store, then he bludgeons her and puts her body in a boat which he capsizes to make her death appear accidental.įinal clue/twist: After hearing that Ferris habitually wrote down ideas for his mystery novels on whatever paper was handy, Columbo searches his office and house and finds a note with the fake phone call/alibi scheme. He takes her the $15,000 she wants for her silence, feigning interest in her. La Sanka tracks Franklin to Los Angeles when he is out on a date and loudly approaches him, making it clear that she knows Franklin had killed Ferris, forcing him to cancel his date. He drives two hours back to his house with his dead partner in the trunk, dumping the corpse on his own lawn. During the phone call, Franklin shoots Ferris. At the cabin, Franklin convinces Ferris to call his wife and tell her he's working late at the office. They stop at a general store, where, as Franklin makes a phone call to Ferris's wife ( Rosemary Forsyth) to establish an alibi, the owner Lilly La Sanka ( Barbara Colby)-obviously smitten with Franklin-peers outside to see whom Franklin brought with him and sees Ferris in the passenger seat of the car. He tricks Ferris into taking a trip to Franklin's remote cabin two hours away. Franklin makes it look like Ferris was investigating gangsters. However, the pair have an insurance policy on which Franklin can collect if Ferris dies during the partnership. Ken Franklin ( Jack Cassidy) is one-half of a mystery writing team, but partner Jim Ferris ( Martin Milner) wants to go solo, exposing the fact that Ferris did all the actual writing, and thus leave the high-living Franklin without his cash cow. Martin Milner as Jim Ferris and Barbara Colby as Lilly La Sanka The DVD includes the two pilot movies: Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead Man.

The season was released on DVD by Universal Home Video. The season originally aired Wednesdays at 8:30-10:00 pm ( EST) as part of The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. Main article: 1971–72 United States network television schedule

Columbo episodes