Kate Mulgrew is Kate Columbo, wife of the rumpled police lieutenant and - in her own right - a mother, homemaker and reporter for a neighborhood throwaway. In this week's opener, she also demonstrates a knack for investigation after she overhears a neighbor plotting the murder of his wife.

An apparent suicide is actually the handiwork of a retired Scotland Yard investigator who is teaching a course that Mrs. Columbo is taking.

A puppet maker is murdered by a tormented ventriloquist who acted at the urging of his "evil" dummy.

Two women own a catering firm. Both love the same man. To one, the solution is obvious: murder.

A famous psychic engineers the murder of her business partner and appears to have an airtight alibi - she was demonstrating her "powers" to Mrs. Columbo at the time of death.

Kate has divorced her famous husband, changed her last name back to maiden Callahan, and moved to San Fernando with their girl to work for a new paper. Her first investigation involves a suspect who claims he didn't murder his wife.

After her colleague is murdered, Kate decides to continue the investigation of a shady local elite country club she was working on for the paper at the time of murder.

Kate is working on a murder case investigation with the help of a source she trusts. The police demands full disclosure from her and arrests her when she refuses to give them the source's name.

Kate is investigating a horrifying series of murders committed by strangulation.

Owner of a restaurant is found dead, possibly murdered. Then his body disappears. Kate investigates.

It's the election season and Kate wholeheartedly supports one of the candidates for Congress from her district. However, his shady past comes knocking when his associate is murdered and he's the only suspect. Kate is shocked! Can this be?

Kate is investigating a murder of a woman. The victim was a participant in a sensitivity-training group and her psychologist is a suspect.

Kate investigates a case of a murdered young woman. The only suspect is an immigrant who used to be a part of a radical underground movement. Sounds like an open and shut case, right? Kate doesn't think so.