It is a surprise to find that BUM DEAL may be Paul Levine’s best book to date. Levine displays his considerable chops in this latest installment of his Lassiter, Solomon and Lord series, which once again unites the protagonists of his two most successful series.

Hold it. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. Jake Lassiter, Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord aren’t exactly together in BUM DEAL. Levine throws an extremely interesting curveball into the proceedings when he puts them on opposite sides of a murder trial. Readers who are familiar with these stalwart and competent defense attorneys know that they are...well, defense attorneys. Levine changes things up here by placing Lassiter, who has functioned as a friend and mentor to Solomon and Lord, on the other side of the aisle as the prosecutor in a high-profile murder case.

"There are enough twists and turns in the final third of the book to entrance even the most jaded reader.... BUM DEAL is full to the brim with the humor, courtroom brilliance and subtle pathos that have made Levine’s other novels winners."

The circumstances arise as the result of the Florida State Attorney recusing himself in the criminal trial of Dr. Clark Calvert, who is accused of murdering his wife, Sofia. With great reluctance, Lassiter accepts the assignment, even as he is faced with plenty of complications. The first is his health. Lassiter’s experience with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been playing out over the course of these books, and his symptoms have gotten progressively worse, notwithstanding the experimental treatment he has been receiving. Another is that there is really no evidence that Calvert killed Sofia, or that she is even dead, given that she has only gone missing. However, for reasons made clear in BUM DEAL, the arrest and the trial proceed, and it appears that Lassiter is really going to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, whether Calvert is guilty or not.

Meanwhile, the defense team of Solomon and Lord is not without its own problems. The two are engaged, with the wedding to take place in just a few months. Solomon is somewhat aghast to learn that Lord and Calvert had been lovers at some point in the distant past. Lord knows a few things that could interfere with their defense of Calvert, but she does not want to share that information with Solomon, who kind-of sort-of wishes that Lassiter will be successful in his prosecution of Calvert. Lassiter thinks he has enough evidence to convince a jury that there has been a crime and that Calvert is guilty, but he soon finds that he has obstacles to overcome that may be insurmountable.

There are enough twists and turns in the final third of the book to entrance even the most jaded reader. And the last paragraph contains what may be called a storybook ending, particularly for those of us with dirty minds of a certain sort.

BUM DEAL is full to the brim with the humor, courtroom brilliance and subtle pathos that have made Levine’s other novels winners. You can pick up and enjoy it without having read any of the previous installments in any of these three series, but you won’t want to stop with this one.