Make Me a Perfect Murder story
West Coast television production boss Mark McAndrews is promoted to a high- level position in New York. He fails to name as his replacement the logical successor, TV programmer Kay Freestone, because she is also his lover. He gives her, as a consolation prize, a new Mercedes. She is more interested in a gun he holds while he jokingly invites her to shoot him. Freestone takes him up on it during an important preview for a new made-for-TV movie called "The Professional", that she helped produce. She tricks the projectionist by fiddling with the projector's timer and then sending him on an errand. Freestone sneaks up to McAndrews's office and shoots him, then returns, hiding the gun above the ceiling panels of an elevator, to make the reel change successfully before the projectionist gets back. Final clue/twist: Kay sees what she thinks is the murder weapon, now visible against the lights of the elevator ceiling. She recovers and gets rid of it. Columbo reveals that the actual gun had been discovered by the police some time before, and an imitation was put where she would see it, to find out what she would do. That she got rid of what she thought was the murder weapon proves she must be the killer. Directed by: James Frawley. Story by: Robert Blees.
29 total · 3 choice · 9 major · 17 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Part for vengeance over getting dumped or betrayed, and in part to get a promotion, Kay Freestone decided to knock off her former boss in the following devious way: At a carefully timed point when it seemed like she had an alibi in the projectionist's booth, she simply sneaked away and shot Mark dead through the chest. One gathers that she would have gotten away with her crime had it not been for the meddlesome Lt. Columbo. |
| murder of a lover | choice | The plot turns on Kay Freestone knocking off her boss and former lover, Mark, after he failed to choose her to succeed him in his high-profile position at the television network. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | The plot turns on Kay Freestone revenge killing her boss and former lover, Mark, after he failed to choose her to succeed him in his high-profile position at the television network. |
| betrayal | major | Kay felt betrayed by her boss and lover Mark for his failing to choose her as his successor. |
| coping with stress at work | major | Kay was under a lot of pressure to perform after taking the reins as lead producer at the CNC television network. She was ultimately fired for exercising poor judgement on three separate occasions. |
| corporate executive | major | The story concerned glamour and goings on in the upper echelons of a major television network. Mark McAndrews was the boss of the West Coast branch. Frank Flanagan was the big boss. Kay Freestone was gunning for Mark's job. |
| man and mistress | major | Mark was carrying on in a secret relationship with his executive assistant, Kay. |
| rise to prominence from humble beginnings | major | A point of the story was that Kay had worked enormously hard to get to where she was, from an all but impoverished childhood nearly in the gutter. |
| the corporate world | major | The story concerned glamour and goings on in the upper echelons of a major television network. |
| the desire for professional success | major | The story follows Kay Freestone as she resorts to murder to secure a high-profile position at the television network that she was too green to hold down. |