Book Talk: Levine, ‘The Deep Blue Alibi’

“Forget it Steve, I’m not having sex in the ocean.” After Victoria rejects Steve’s invitation with, “There’s seaweed. And sea lice. And sea urchins,” she says the five words that turn Steve’s hot blood to ice: “Steve, we need to talk.”

Those are the opening lines in Paul Levine’s sequel to “Solomon vs. Lord.” The first nine words are an excellent hint about the relationship between Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord, partners in a law firm and a terribly mismatched couple in their private lives. Victoria is the blue-blood cum-laude graduate from the Ivy League. Steve is a beach bum who passed the bar on his third try and whose “first rule” is, “If the law doesn’t work, work the law.”

Although their partnership is new — just one major case, the one covered in “Solomon vs. Lord” — Victoria wants to “go out on her own.” After dealing with Steve’s courtroom antics, she feels that she needs to establish herself as a serious, competent, and respectable lawyer. (Are those last two words an oxymoron?)