Columbo is a friendly, verbose, working-class, disheveled police detective of Italian descent, whose trademarks include wearing a rumpled, beige raincoat over his suit, and smoking a cigar. He is consistently underestimated by his suspects, who are initially reassured and distracted by his circumstantial speech, then increasingly annoyed by his pestering behavior. Despite his unassuming appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for a conviction.