William Harrington Books In Order

Publication Order of Columbo (Tor) Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

William Harrington is mainly known as the author of Murder at the President’s Door, his specialty was mainly in detective stories. He was born in 21st November 1931 in Marietta, Ohio, the United States. He died on 8th November 2000 in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was a lawyer from 1958 to 1976, an electoral adviser from 1962 to 1965 in Columbus, and finally an attorney from 1978 to 1980. His first novel The Justice Which, Which the Thief, published in 1963, received positive critics. It was a real case story about a couple of jewelry robberies in Ohio.

His other popular book was published in 1982, The English Lady, it is an espionage novel about Winston Churchill and her confidante spying on the Germans during the Second World War. Between 1993 and 1998, he wrote the Columbo series, inspired by the television series American Columbo. He Co-authored with Elliot Roosevelt on the investigations of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the US president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Between 1963 and 2001, he has written over 20 interesting and captivating books.

· Which the Justice, Which the Thief (1963)

This novel recounts the trial of a jewelry robbery in Ohio; if you are a big fan of jury novels then this is the novel for you. The robbery happened in daylight and the verdict is 10 to 25 years behind bars. The man and woman accused of this theft each has their personalities, the man is immoral and the woman is very sexual. The novel is in the first person’s perspective and the narrator is an ex-judge where the actual trial happened. When you read this book, you will ask yourself all sorts of questions like, what will the jury do? Will they record the evidence of the theft? Or, what will happen to the duo? This will definitely turn out to be an interesting read, if you have not given it a second look.

· The power (1964) (aka The Gospel of death)

This second trial story is based in the Midwestern, about Rob Jones, a tent preacher being accused of manslaughter. This novel is about religion and crime. We are introduced to new characters each and every time, which brings out the whole aspect of the story. One of his accomplishes gave up on insulin believing that she has been cured; Rob Jones is lustful and has been compared to Elmer Gantry. You will get to see Nelson Conaway; the county prosecuting attorney has taken his case. A lot of repercussions are at stake here, but the case has to go on. William Harrington does not pay attention to the characters as expected, but it is definitely worth reading.

· Yoshar the Soldier (1966) (aka one over one)

This story is about war-brutalized soldier’s return trial. Harrington was trying to make a unique story, and it worked, it is tragic and about love and death. Yoshar the soldier is sent on a hopeless mission, but he commits crimes such as killing, rape and kidnapping.

The Columbo series comprises of;

· The Grassy Knoll (1993)

· The Helter Skelter murder (1994)

· The Hoffa Connection (1995)

· The Game Show Killer (1996)

· The Glitter Murder (1997)

· The hover files (1998)

Columbo the American television series

Harrington used this TV show inspiration to write the Columbo novel, it is a television police series of Richard Levinson and William Link the main character. Peter Falk a very intelligent, stubborn and insightful inspector. This series does not have generic order, and we are introduced to This Old Man, who appears periodically as the series goes by. Lieutenant Columbo works for the LAPD and known for his beige raincoat and his drive the gray convertible Peugeot 403.

He has a wife and we know this through an episode of her attempted poisoning, the first episode resolves around a murder in which Columbo is trying to resolve. The viewers are captivated from scratch and somehow we get to know the murderer at the beginning of the episode. Just like any lieutenant, Columbo tries to find out the killer by asking questions, visiting the crime scenes, being suspicious and irritating the suspects. His relentless and obstinacy makes him the perfect person for the job, he might seem funny, but towards the end his tone changes when he prosecutes the real criminals. Columbo does not own a gun, we do not even know if he knows how to shoot and he is very detailed.

William Harrington was found dead at the age of 68, it was stated in the police report that he committed suicide at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. His great work has been going on for about 37 years, it is believed that he wrote his own obituary and dated his death on the 0ctober 25th. He had written under the ghostwriter of Harold Robbins and Margaret Truman, which was known after his death.

Mr. Harrington has collaborated with other novelists in the past by working as a research collaborator. He worked on a manuscript with Jhan Robbins, Harold Robbins. Thus, writing a novel under his names, though he has worked with him on four previous novels. He was one of the founders of Lexis-Nexis, a computing system used to retrieve legal and general information.

The 68-year old, earned his master’s degree at Duke University and a law degree at Ohio State University. Practicing as an attorney for almost 20 years gave him the morale of writing detective novels, after writing novels such as: Jupiter Crisis, Trial and The Search for Elizabeth Brandt. He moved to Greenwich to make writing a full-time career in 1980.

Almost 25 books have been published under his name, including the Columbo series from the American Columbo TV series adaptation. Mr. Harrington also took part in a weekly history class in Connecticut where he also did some teaching, he also was in a Parsonage cottage group whereby they met every twice a month to discuss on current issues, events and history.

Over the years he has one adopted son from his second wife, Shannon William Harrington. So to say, he has been married twice; his second marriage to Diana Carol Fitch lasted for almost 20 years and ended in 1993. His death was very tragic and most people were very sad and shocked especially his family, friends and big fans of his detective novels.