Joanna Ferris was the wife of Jim Ferris in Murder By The Book.
Joanna was called by Jim one evening to say that he would be late home because he wanted to work late finishing writing the chapter he was busy authoring. This was a lie, as Jim was in actuality going to be late due to having been invited by Ken Franklin to spend one final day together at his new lake house before the two split apart. However, before the call could end, a gunshot was heard on the other end. Understandably unsettled by this, Joanna called the police and had them investigate Jim's office for clues of what may have happened. After a while, Joanna was taken aside by Lieutenant Columbo, who attempted to comfort her and put her at ease by making her an omelette whilst he questioned her. Ken Franklin later arrived and further comforted Joanna. Unbeknownst to her, Ken was responsible for Jim's death, having been the one who shot him. Joanna was distraught when Jim's body turned up, proving that he was dead. Later, Columbo requested her permission to search Jim's office for evidence of Ken's guilt after she mentioned to him that Jim wrote down all his story ideas. This was so that he could find a note that Jim had made to himself of an idea for the plot of a novel which was the same way that he himself had been murdered.
Joanna Ferris was played by Rosemary Forsyth.