Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders [Hardcover]

William Harrington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994 | Series: Columbo

When the wife of a wealthy store owner and her lover are murdered, Columbo fears that another round of Manson murders is beginning, and despite findings that have already implicated a suspect, the detective knows the worst is yet to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second hard-copy appearance of TV's scruffy Lieutenant Columbo is a wickedly successful mystery that's based on a Manson Family copycat killing and includes Charles Manson wannabes and a few of his aging followers. Twenty-five years after the infamous 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders (Columbo was the third homicide detective on the scene), millionaire retailer Yussef Khoury and his mistress surreptitiously enter the elegant Khoury home on Mulholland Drive. Sometime later, an anonymous phone call sends the police, including Columbo, to the house where Yussef's wife, Arlene; her lover, a thieving production designer for Khoury's film company; and the houseboy lie dead of multiple stab wounds, with the words Healter Skelter and All Piggys Die written in blood on the wall. Yussef, arriving after the cops, implicates his wife's secretary, Puss Dogwood, who was once a teenage member of Manson's family. Pitted against suave and wealthy villains, the rumpled Columbo bumbles his way straight through the film industry, posh retail trade, scuba-diving clubs and Manson Family lore to keep readers enthralled. With solid plotting, fully fleshed-out characters and dry humor, Harrington's series, begun with Columbo: The Grassy Knoll , is prime-time entertainment.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Yussef "Joe" Khoury, owner of a posh Southern California department store, has become a movie producer. He's in love with Kimberly Dana, who will star in his next film, if it gets made--there's a bit of a problem with Khoury's wife, Arlene, who wants a divorce. When Arlene and her lover are brutally murdered, the police find graffiti written in the victims' blood, recalling the Manson killings 25 years earlier. And one of Manson's former disciples works in Khoury's office. It's all a little too pat for Lieutenant Columbo, of the popular TV show. Wrapped in his rumpled raincoat and gnawing on his omnipresent cigar, he picks apart the case against the prime suspect while zeroing in on Khoury and his movie-star lover. We know who, what, when, how, and why from the start. The fun is watching Columbo--polite, oblique and seemingly distracted--disassemble the "perfect" crime while playing cat and mouse with his suspects. If readers like the TV show, they'll enjoy the capably written book, which is full of sly digs at the posh L.A. scene. Those who like their killers revealed on the last page had best stay away. Wes Lukowsky

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312855370
• ISBN-13: 978-0312855376
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,071,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful, frightening, and captivating!, March 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders (Mass Market Paperback)

In this novel, it is revealed that a young Columbo was one of the detectives who put Charles Manson behind bars. Now, he's back investigating the murder of a cheating wife and her lover. Her husband and his model lover were the murderers, who have cleverly framed one of his employees, a Manson girl once pregnant by Charles, with overwheliming evidence. As Columbo later comments, if they hadn't made so much evidence against her and left some work to do, they might have gotten away with it. Charles Manson himself appears in one chilling scene behind bars. Recomended to fans of Columbo, but a slight warning: Harrington added a few modern elements: sex (the pair are murdered in bed), language (seriously, it's a bit excessive!), and gore (described in detail the Manson murders and Khoury murders).

4.0 out of 5 stars This book keeps you on edge as Columbo cracks the case., September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is not quite as good as "The Hoover Files" but it is definetely worth getting. For all of the Columbo fans, this is a worthwhile book to purchase. It first takes you all the way back to the Tate-LaBianca murders and then jumps to the present when an astoundingly simlilar murder occurs, or at least made to look that way. The Murderer in the story has a perfect framing operation. Since one of his workers was one of the original Manson girls(who was not tried in that case), everyone will undoubtably suspect her; that is, everybody but one certain leiutenint.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scared me s***less, September 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was extremely mesmerizing. It was THE most twisted and terrifying book I've ever read, fiction or non-fiction. As long as your not squeamish, you will love it.