Over the holidays, I got back into watching Columbo mysteries. As a kid, I watched the reruns often. I find it quite relaxing to watch Columbo unspool a murder at Dickensian length. Has anyone ever been stressed out watching Columbo work (except his prey)? Pictured here is the smarmy author from “Murder by the Book.” Is there anything worse than a smarmy author? Just look at him, counting his pages, expecting royalties for his work. Cheers to Columbo and finding down time in the New Year amid all the writing–so much writing.