Paul Levine on Bringing Together Jake Lassiter, Steve Solomon, and Victoria Lord

Paul Levine creates sparks in BUM RAP when he brings two of his series together. He joins Fresh Fiction to talk about Lassiter, Solomon, and Lord.

Jen: BUM RAP is the eleventh novel in the Jake Lassiter series. When you first wrote TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, did you see this series and Jake going this far?

Paul: When I wrote TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD in 1988, I just hoped it would get published. When it was published in 1990, I just hoped I’d have the chance to write a second novel. It turns out that I’ve written another 18 novels. TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD has sold more than one million copies and is still in the top ten legal thrillers in the Amazon Kindle Store. A new paperback edition will be coming out next month, exactly 25 years after the original hardcover. So I’m thrilled that Jake Lassiter is still defending murder trials in BUM RAP all these years later.

Jen: BUM RAP combines two of your series: the Jake Lassiter series and the Solomon vs. Lord series. What was your favorite part in bringing these two worlds and these characters together?

Paul: I knew Lassiter and Solomon would dislike each other, which would be great for dramatic conflict, especially between lawyer and client. Lassiter sees too much of his younger self in the reckless, arrogant Steve Solomon. He’s offended by Solomon’s “When the law doesn’t work...work the law.” But Lassiter is hardly a saint in the courtroom. If he had a slogan, it might be, “When the law doesn’t work...hit somebody.” Lassiter has one rule he strictly adheres to: Never let a client lie on the witness stand. And, without giving too much away, that rule creates problems with Solomon.

Jen: There’s a bit of sexual tension going on between Jake and Victoria. Was the attraction a surprise to you as you wrote or did you always know that if these two got together there would be sparks?

Paul: That’s part of the reason I wrote the book. Creating a triangle between Jake Lassiter, Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord was tremendous fun. Jake is defending Solomon on a murder charge and falls hard for Victoria, Solomon’s law partner and lover. So Jake has a conflict of interest. If he loses the case, he has a clear path to the end zone....meaning Victoria. Oh, how I love lawyers’ ethical dilemmas!

Jen: You were a newspaper reporter, law professor, and trial lawyer before becoming a novelist. You joke on your website that you’re unable to hold a job. If you were going to pick a new career now, what would you do and why?

Paul: You left out television writer. Admittedly, it was a short career. I wrote for “JAG,” the long-running military courtroom show, and then co-created “First Monday,” the Supreme Court show with James Garner, Joe Mantegna, and Charles Durning. It pretty much flopped, lasting only one season. With all the terrific shows on television today, I wish I was just starting out in that career. I’m thinking about cable shows like “Ray Donovan” and “The Knick” and “True Detective” (better last season) and “Bosch” and “Rectify” and of course, the recently concluded “Mad Men” and “Justified.”

Jen: Can you give tell us what you’re working on now? Will there be more Lassiter, Solomon, and Lord books to come?

Paul: I tinkered with the idea of the three joining forces in a law firm, but the next book will actually have them on the opposite sides of a case. All drama is conflict, they say.

Jen: Thanks for joining us, Paul! It's been a pleasure to have you with us.

About Paul Levine

Paul Levine is a former trial and appellate attorney, and the award- winning author of the critically acclaimed series featuring Miami trial lawyer Jake Lassiter and other legal thrillers. He has also written for ABC Television, Stephen J. Cannell Studios, and the CBS television program, "JAG." Levine makes his home in Los Angeles, where he is at work on the second Solomon vs. Lord mystery, which Bantam will publish in Spring 2006.

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About BUM RAP

NFL linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter has had it with shifty clients, dirty prosecutors, and a legal system out of whack. It’s enough to make a man want to leave Miami and never look back—until he gets a call from Victoria Lord, the better half of hot local legal team Solomon & Lord. Her partner in life and law has been arrested for murder. What’s worse: the only person who can clear him has fled the city. Now it’s up to Jake and Victoria to track down the witness—a stunning “Bar girl”—before she’s roped in by the feds…or eliminated by the Russian mob.

Jake knows that if he doesn’t get to the witness first, his client’s case is lost. Luckily, he’s got some good advice from his college football coach: “Buckle your chin strap and hit somebody.” And sometimes, the only way to win a tough case is to do just that.