Kate Loves A Mystery (Mrs Columbo)

1 9 7 9 (USA)
13 x 60 minute episodes

The lovely young Kate Mulgrew played the wife of the rumpled police lieutenant.

She lived at 728 Valley Lane in San Fernando, California, with her never-seen husband (always referred to as “my husband” or “the lieutenant”), her 7-year-old daughter, Jenny (Lili Haydn), and a lazy basset hound called Fang.

Kate worked as a part-time reporter for The Weekly Advertiser – published by Josh Alden (Henry Jones) – but although she was supposed to cover events like pet shows and garden clubs, she always managed to stumble across crimes – and solve them.

The series premiered on 26 February 1979, but the producers of Columbo didn’t like the idea at all (neither did Peter Falk), and after a short first season of five episodes, Kate was given a divorce, changed her last name to Callahan, eliminated any references to the Columbo character, and the title of the show was changed to Kate Loves a Mystery.

Although Kate still worked for Josh Alden, she was now reporting for The Valley Advocate and was assisted by her friend, Mike Varrick (Don Stroud), a sergeant with the Valley Municipal Police Department.

The show was cancelled after a further eight episodes.

Mrs Columbo became the default title for all episodes when the show was later syndicated.

Kate Columbo/Callahan
Kate Mulgrew
Josh Alden
Henry Jones
Jenny Columbo/Callahan
Lili Haydn
Sergeant Mike Varrick
Don Stroud

Episodes

Word Games | Murder Is a Parlor Game | A Riddle for Puppets | Caviar with Everything | A Puzzle for Prophets || Ladies of the Afternoon | It Goes with the Territory | Off the Record | The Valley Strangler | A Chilling Surprise | Falling Star | Feelings Can Be Murder | Love, on Instant Replay

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