Vernon liked to think of himself as the Lt. Columbo of real estate fraud investigation. I mentioned to him once that in “Prescription Murder”(1968), Columbo said that the murderer is very smart, but he’s an amateur. He’s got just one chance to learn, just one. With homicide detectives, it’s a business, we do this a hundred times a year. That’s a lot of practice.
Vernon said he wished he had put that in his book.