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.

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.