I liked the Columbo TV series and still do. I haven't been able to find any fiction books about Columbo,

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3. Lots of Ellery queen mysteries.

Some really, really good whodunits.

Many whodunits have an ending reveal and the author could have justified it any way. The movie "clue" even had alternate endings, each of which was, ok, that works.

But ellery queen made a point of giving enough clues so that you could solve it before the final reveal. There was, afaik, always only one correct conclusion. Any other solution would leave key bits of evidence unexplained or require implausible scenarios.

Most other murder mystery shows always seemed to be loose enough that the author could go in any direction at the end. I always found ellery queen much more satisfying.

Of course, columbo usually wasn't a whodunit so much as a howdunit or how is columbo going to prove it or extract a confession. You pretty much knew the guy he spent the most time talking to was the guilty one....