The dynamic duo of Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord kicks off their courtroom adventures behind bars after being jailed for contempt of court for arguing during a hearing. It’s nothing new for Steve Solomon, whose unusual courtroom antics have landed him in the cooler before. Victoria Lord, however, a Yale-educated, ambitious, neophyte prosecutor, is mortified. She’s in danger not only of losing her job, but of derailing her career plans in the doing. Future judges don’t sit in jail for contempt of court in a penny-ante bird smuggling trial.Until she met the infuriating Steve Solomon, everything was going according to plan. Victoria wasn’t a rich woman, but she had a promising career and a solid, successful, avocado-farming fiancé. Steve lives in a rundown bachelor bungalow and represents overly-litigious models and lowlifes. Victoria starts to see he may have a few saving graces, however, when she keeps meeting people who adore him, particularly his nephew Bobby, an unusual child with a horrible past and a penchant for anagrams.Victoria thinks she’s seen the last of Steve after he gets her fired during the bird trial, but she becomes his unwilling partner when he poaches her first client, Katrina Barksdale, a member of her country club who has been accused of murdering her husband, who died in a sex accident. When they begin working together, Steve thinks Victoria wastes too much time doing research, and she thinks he’s irresponsible bordering on unethical. When the blend of their very different styles starts to work in the courtroom, however, Victoria begins to believe the partnership might work. Except for her annoying attraction to Steve that seems to get stronger the closer they get to her wedding date. Victoria also falls for Bobby, enchanted with his unusual talents and unruffled by his strange behavior. She agrees to represent Steve in his custody trial against the state, which takes place in the evenings after the Barksdale murder trial. She and Steve work together to win both trials while Victoria fights her feelings for him, and Steve dreads her impending wedding day.Levine created great characters, from the leads to the smaller roles, using the characters’ points of view and impressions to draw them in vivid color. From Victoria’s zealous fiancé to the creepy Dr. Kranchik, who tries to wrestle custody of Bobby away from Steve for experimental purposes, these are all people we can see, hear, and practically smell.Even more fun than its sequel, “The Deep Blue Alibi,” this book left me wanting more. I hope there will be many more Solomon vs. Lord novels that take the relationship between Victoria and Steve in new directions while they make going to court more fun than it’s ever been.
Clever, witty, funny. Excellent courtroom comedy.When Victoria Lord is fired from her state's attorney's office job, Steve Solomon, the counselor for the defense, takes her on as his partner. Immediately, the sparks fly (Victoria likes to go by the book, but Steve says "when the law doesn't work, work the law") and we just know -- despite the fact that they evidently can't stand each other, and that she is engaged to South Florida's avocado king -- that these two are going to end up together. Maybe.But that's just the fun part -- the real story involves the death of local millionaire Charles Barksdale and the arrest of his wife Katrina for his murder. As a friend of the accused, Victoria takes on the case, with Steve, against her former employer, state's attorney "Sugar Ray" Pincher. Meanwhile, Steve has his own problems: social services is trying to take his mildly autistic nephew, Bobby, away from him. Steve rescued Bobby from Steve's drug-addicted sister, Janice, but Dr. Doris Krankovich believes Solomon to be an unfit parent. These, along with Steve's father issues and Victoria's indecision about who she truly belongs with, make for a dense, involving novel that still manages to be a quick read. Author Levine (a writer for JAG and the author of the Jake Lassiter series of crime novels) effortlessly combines humor and suspense, with several laugh-out-loud throwaway lines buried among the drama. The cracks come fast and furious, right along with the suspense. Bobby's ability with anagrams is hysterical, but the real draws are the main characters, especially Solomon and Lord. Levine knows that it is just as much fun to watch people fall in love as it is to watch them win a case, and he gives us plenty of both, resulting in a book that is a true pleasure to read and is a fine addition to the ever-growing canon of novels with wacky South Floridian characters (see Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and Dave Barry for more examples).
What do You think about Solomon Vs. Lord (2005)?
Paul Levine- Solomon vs Lord (Bantam Books 2005) 3.5 StarsSteve Solomon is a wily lawyer whose tricks are well known in the courtroom. Victoria Lord is a rookie lawyer with something to prove and a stickler for the rules. After getting her fired, he will partner with her for a high profile murder trial. It will be a balance of sticking to the law and playing with the law, which could either work out great, or land them both in a cell.The beginning of this book was an interesting way to start and prepared me for a very amusing read. It did take a while to get to the point and lacked focus. It was an okay plot though and made for a good read. It was not the most realistic of books, but made up for with great characters and a lot of laugh out loud scenes. I do not know if I have laughed so much with a book in quite a while. One thing I did not like was all the sexual parts, but some of these were kind of funny as well. Overall this book was a good one time read and I would be interested in reading more by this author. For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.Tony PetersKids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnappinghttp://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/
—Tony
The writing is not bad, but the story is weak. It felt as if the author could not decide what type of story he wanted to write. Is it a romantic comedy, a serious drama, a love story, a court thriller? By not focusing on one, it fails at them all. Character development was also weak. Lord was a flat and uninteresting character. The author made may point telling us she was a great lawyer, but she did nothing in the story to show it. In fact her three major contributions were: getting fired for screaming in court, accepting a plea bargain that gave the prosecution full face saving glory for a trial she would have won, and undressing while telling a judge that her feeling for Steve were confusing so he should get custody. The only way you could tell she was a good lawyer was that the author kept saying she was. Steve was poised for depth and growth, but was unlikable. I know you don't have to like a character you only have to care what happens to them, but Steve is said to be a caring person doing the right thing even of it is not legal. However, his actions throughout the book show him to be a sleaze and terrible person willing to screw anyone and everyone to get what he wants. There are many examples where someone helps him then he burns them.
—Shon Neal
I had never heard of this author, but while at work one day I was shelving and came across it and the cover made me turn it over to read the blurb. After reading not only that, but the quotes by other authors singing the story's praises I knew I had to give it a whirl. A sexy mystery with a funny court case based in South Florida with two lawyers who had the banter of a Hepburn and Tracy? Yes, please. And let me say, that it delivered. This was such a fun, refreshing, impossible to put down book. I believed the crazy case with the over the top characters. I was surprised by plot twists. I was enchanted by Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord's back and forth that developed into a lovely little love story. Steve especially was impossible not to pull for with his dedication to his nephew, Bobby, an autistic savant growing up with his bachelor uncle, and his uncharacteristic falling for straight-laced Victoria. She was a believable young lawyer fighting for the truth in a world where the law doesn't always work, and plans don't always go accordingly. And the author's take on life in Florida was done pitch perfect. And to top it all off, this one has heart. This isn't just a funny romp, although it does that too, but it's also impossible not to fall in love with the character's struggles, especially when it comes to Steve and Bobby. I had so much fun with this one I hated putting it down, and am ecstatic to see there are more in the series. A lot of comparisons are made to this being the baby of Carl Hiaasen's humor and John Grisham's understanding of the courtroom. Well, thrown in Jennifer Crusie's deft handle of sexy chemistry and banter and you've got yourself a great book.
—Willow
