Trial and Error (Solomon vs. Lord Series) »

Paul Levine is a former trial lawyer and the award-winning author of the Solomon vs. Lord legal thrillers.  He has also written for the CBS television program, JAG.  Levine lives in Los Angeles, where he is working on his next Jimmy Payne thriller. 

When Steve Solomon is awakened from a sound sleep beside his lover and law partner, Victoria Lord, the last thing he expects is to find himself in a high-speed chase against dolphin-kidnapping ecoterrorists on Jet Skis. But that is what you get when your nephew hangs out at water parks and speaks cetacean–a.k.a. dolphin. By morning, a person is dead and Steve has a new client: none other than one of the animal liberators. There’s just one loophole: Victoria is on the case too—on the opposite side.

No wonder Larry King says that this is “mystery writing at its very best” and Dave Barry says Paul Levine writes a terrific courtroom drama that’s also funny as hell!”

Publishers Weekly

The fourth Solomon vs. Lord novel finds the two romantically entwined attorneys-at-law unwittingly taking opposing sides of an ecoterrorism case. After heroically thwarting the theft of two prized dolphins from a wildlife park, Steve Solomon finds himself representing the very environmentalist radical he helped apprehend, a clueless idealist who, due to a legal technicality, is likely to be convicted of murder. Meanwhile, Steve's long-term girlfriend, Victoria Lord, has been tapped by the state's attorney to spearhead the prosecution. While the two lovers exchange characteristically incisive banter over their case and their relationship, Solomon's autistic adopted son, Bobby, provides insight that may crack the case wide open only to reveal a seriously dangerous conspiracy. The book shines throughout the legal melodrama, treating over-the-top courtroom antics with enough legalese to keep the proceedings from tipping into suspense-killing absurdity. There are some rough patches Bobby's thoughts on his struggling social life are distracting (and unnaturally wholesome), and the closing chapters discard witty courthouse repartee for contrived B-movie action fare but no more than series fans have come to expect. This quick and tightly crafted caper has enough cheeseball humor, endearing wit and memorable characters to make it a fine rainy-day read. (June)