An egocentric magician masquerading as a real psychic murders his old mentor, a magician charged to expose him as fraud, by beheading him while he's rehearsing his guillotine trick. Lt. Columbo is on the case.

Famous (and fraudulent) psychic Elliot Blake uses his old mentalist skills to live a lavish lifestyle at the expense of a psychic research institute and hopefully, the US Government. What seems at first like a threat, a test devised by a well-known magician and debunker of psychics, turns out to be his chance for revenge against his former mentor. What he can't foresee is a police lieutenant who knows all the tricks.—Mark Cabot Robinson

A magician is dead after an accident during his 'fake guillotine' trick. But was it an accident? Columbo doesn't think so, but he'll need a few tricks of his own to discover the truth.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>