All I Needed to Know I Learned From Columbo

By Adam Graham

“Murder mysteries are, among other things, our most moral form of entertainment.”
--Orson Welles

Detective stories are fun and interesting, but as Adam Graham writes, they also have a lot to teach us about life.

Join podcaster Adam Graham on this fun journey through the annals of detective fiction as he examines the history and career of seven of the greatest detectives from literature, radio, and television. Along the way, he stops to point to the sometime surprising insights that these detectives teach such as:

-How to avoid cluttering your brain from Sherlock Holmes.
-How to form valuable opinions from Nero Wolfe.
-The importance of character from Dan Holiday.
-The proper use of anger from Columbo
-How to find courage from Adrian Monk

These detectives provide twelve timeless life lessons in a fresh and entertaining way. All I Needed to Know I Learned From Columbo is a must-read for any fan of detective fiction.

About the Author:

Adam Graham is the host of three Podcasts featuring golden age radio programs, “The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio,” “The Old Time Dragnet Show,” and, “The Old Time Radio Superman Show.” He is also an author and blogger, writing about religion, politics, and history. He and his wife published the novel, “Tales of the Dim Knight” available They live in Boise, Idaho with their cat Joybell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adam Graham
• Release date: Dec 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465760975

Book preview

All I Needed to Know, I Learned from Columbo

Life Lessons from Great Detectives of Film, Radio, and Page.

By

Adam Graham

~~~

Smashwords Edition

All I Needed to Know I Learned from Columbo

By Adam Graham

Copyright © 2011 Adam Graham.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

A Study in Scarlet was originally published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887 and is in the public domain.

The Three Tools of Death was originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in June 24, 1911 and is in the public domain.

All other stories, television episodes, and movies quoted are the property of their respective owners and are quoted briefly under the fair use doctrine of United States Copyright law.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Most Moral Form

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Conclusion: Solving Your Own Case

Appendix: The Three Tools of Death by G.K. Chesterton

About the Author

Introduction: The Most Moral Form

"Murder mysteries are, among other things, our most moral form of entertainment."

--Orson Welles

I grew up reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and eagerly watched each week’s new Ben Matlock case. In my teens, I enjoyed Columbo and Dragnet. As an adult, Father Brown, Monk, and a slew of other detective shows came into my life. I continue to discover even more shows as host of the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio podcast, where I share my passion for these detective stories with thousands of people all around the world.

The best detective stories make their protagonist more than a puzzle-solving machine or a pile of clichés and toughness. To read Nero Wolfe, or to watch an episode of Columbo or Monk, is to take a journey with an old friend. We may be disappointed if the mystery seems too contrived, but we enjoy the trip.

In the pages of this little book, we’ll examine seven of these great friends from literature, radio, and television: Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, Father Brown, Boston Blackie, Dan Holiday, Columbo, and Monk.

Every good detective will be just and tenacious, but the greatest detectives also have unique character traits that make them stand out and provide instructive life lessons.

We'll learn time management from Nero Wolfe, clear thinking from Sherlock Holmes, devotion from Adrian Monk, and much more. Many of these lessons are hardly original to detective fiction, but through their fascinating stories, we can see these virtues and proverbs in a new way.

Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the detective’s history and then proceeds to examine one or more lessons from their career.

Let’s begin our journey where any good book on detectives should start: 221B Baker Street.

Chapter 1

Sherlock Holmes

In 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet. When we first meet Holmes, he’s a young eccentric who needs a roommate. Dr. John Watson, an injured veteran of Afghanistan, moves in with Holmes and begins to learn what a unique fellow his companion is.

In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes emphasizes his role as a consulting detective. The job, as described by Holmes, involved helping other detectives who have gotten stuck in their efforts to solve a case. This emphasis on being a consultant disappears in later stories as Holmes often has clients of his own.

Holmes took on a wide variety of complex mysteries, told in short stories and novels. He captured the interests of readers, but Doyle became worried Holmes was preventing him from moving in more serious literary directions, so in 1893, Doyle killed off Holmes in a fight with his newly introduced archenemy, Professor Moriarity.

Doyle only left his audience demanding more. Doyle wanted to cash in by creating a stage version of Holmes. After a long process, he found actor/playwright William Gillette who adapted Holmes to the stage. Gillette added greater definition to the Holmes character in the public mind. The phrase, Elementary, my dear Watson. had its genesis in Gillete's play.

Gillete traveled throughout the world, playing the role of Holmes on stage for forty years, and later became the first actor to play Holmes on the radio. These efforts increased the public demand for more Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle tried to respond to this demand in ways that wouldn't commit him to further projects. He released Hound of the Baskervilles as a novel that was set before Holmes' death. Doyle finally relented and brought Holmes back from the dead for The Return of Sherlock Holmes. That collection of short stories ended with Watson stating Holmes had forbidden him from writing down any additional stories.

Public demand persisted and two more short story collections and