Book Talk: Levine - Solomon vs. Lord

Remember the ABC TV hit “Moonlighting?” It aired from 1985 to 1989, so you’d have to be 50-ish if you do. But to have understood the interaction between the characters played by Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis, you’d have to have “50-ish” in the rear-view mirror.

It was one of those well-written and well performed shows that actually made watchers believe that opposites attract. So, when I recently read Paul Levine’s “Solomon vs. Lord” (2005, 373 pages in hardback format), I thought that I was experiencing a flashback. Except, Shepard and Willis played private detectives on the TV series, and Solomon and Lord are attorneys. Otherwise, the same type of love-hate relationship, complete with witty banter, is evident, and that makes Levine’s first book in the series a “fun” read.

Victoria (never Vicky) Lord is a graduate, cum laude, of Yale Law; Steve Solomon squeaked through a Florida law school “in cute dentium” (by the skin of his teeth). Victoria follows all the rules of law and the rigors of ethical behavior. Steve lives by his own laws, the first of which is, “If the law doesn’t work, work the law.”