Deep Blue Alibi
A Solomon vs. Lord Novel
By Paul Levine
Bantam Books
Jan. 31, 2006
465 pages
$6.99
Victoria Lord, attorney-at-law, would love to be a sole practitioner. She was through with her position as second chair to macho-break-all-the-darn-rules Steve Solomon. Victoria was going to finally tell Steve how she felt, but something came up, actually over them, while they were swimming in shallow water just off of Sunset Key. That would be a power boat thundering across the open sea toward the beach. By sheer determination to survive, Steve and Victoria were able to dive and swim ashore. Like a scene in a thriller movie, the boat makes contact with the occupied beach and Victoria realizes she knows the owner. The boat is the Force Majeure IV owned by Harold Griffin, her father's partner in the Lord-Griffin Construction Company. The two families had once done everything together until her father killed himself and legal trouble brewed like a hurricane. Griffin moved off with his family to Costa Rica and Victoria and her mother hadn't heard from him until just before the boat crashed on shore. Further complicating an already dark scene is the fact that an Environmental Protection Agency representative, with a metal spear lodged in his chest, was on the doomed boat. The question is how did it get there and is Griffin responsible?
The mystery lies in the development of Griffin's project called Oceania. Is someone trying to bring him down to end his plans before the first reinforcement is drilled into the sea floor? And what’s the story with Steve's father? Why doesn't he want Steve trying to get his old job back?
DEEP BLUE ALIBI continues with the same lovable characters, never failing to snap in their strengths and weaknesses into the mystery. The idea of an ocean establishment is mind boggling and probably not the most brilliant idea factoring in global warming and conservation, but it works well as the foundation of the story. An unbelievable dream, a lot of money and just the right financial coaxing can make a dream come true, it also can lead to a hell of a lot of jealousy. Beyond the element of murder are a lot of laughs. Another keeper. Looking forward to reading Paul's next novel, "Kill All the Lawyers."
Five out of five nudist clubs
Denise Fleischer, gottawritenetwork.com
November 25, 2006
