I let the question hang there a second, then said, "I really got a sense of Victoria when we were working on your case."

"Yeah?"

"You've got yourself a helluva smart fiancee."

"I know it, pal."

"And a terrific woman."

"I know that, too."

"You ever hurt her in any way, I'll beat the tar out of you."

"No worries, Lassiter. Now, are you in? You gonna be my best man?"

Still, I didn't answer. Then, apropos of nothing-at least nothing I was thinking about-Victoria said, "I've always wanted children."

"Me, too," Solomon agreed.

He fixed me with another serious gaze. If my cardiologist ever looked at me that way, I'd make sure my estate plan was in order. Now what?

"If we have a boy," he said, "do we have your permission?"

"To do what?"

"To name him Jake, of course."

Solomon was moving too fast for me. We'd spent the last several months arguing and insulting each other. Now he wanted me to carry his ring and to immortalize my name in his lineage. How do you say no to that?

"What about it, Jake?" Victoria said.

I sat up straight in my chair. Sometimes you just have to tighten your chin strap and charge full speed ahead.

"I really need to get home," I said. Disappointment crossed both their faces. "But before I go, let's have another round of drinks."

"Why?" they asked simultaneously.

"I gotta practice that wedding toast."

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Readers often ask, "Where do you get your ideas?"

Sometimes I rip them from the headlines. Not long ago, this story in the Miami Herald caught my eye: "Tears Flow Over Guilty Verdicts at End of 'Bar Girls' Federal Trial in Miami."

The subheadline read: "A Federal Judge Ordered the Three Convicted Bar Owners into Custody Immediately, Prompting Loud Wails by Relatives in the Courtroom."

Bar girls. Federal charges. Wailing relatives. It's all music to a crime novelist's ears. Reading the several-thousand-page transcript, I discovered a treasure trove of drama, humor, and chicanery. Take a look at the testimony of a Russian Bar girl named Julija: Q: Did you encourage men who came to the clubs to drink?

A: I tried to make them as drunk as possible.

Q: And why is that?

A: Because sober men will never spend as much money as drunk men.

Q: Did the men pay several thousand dollars for a single bottle of cheap champagne?

A: Their minds were on B-girls, not on credit card slip.

Q: Did you ever offer the men sex?

A: No, because I was not acting as prostitute, but I gave them hope.

Q: By zipping down their pants?

A: Yes, touching them, kissing them, anything you can think.

Q: Giving them hope that they would have sex with you?

A: All my behavior was inclining to this.

Q: And once they signed the checks you disappeared, right?

A: Yes. Fast.

That's the moment Bum Rap was born and the chapter "Giving Men Hope" popped into my head, nearly fully formed. I knew Jake Lassiter would have to visit a B-girl bar, and I knew there would be a murder.

Bum Rap brings together Lassiter, the linebacker-turned-lawyer, and mismatched law partners Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. Lassiter last appeared in State vs. Lassiter, nominated for a Shamus Award. Solomon and Lord were last seen bickering and bantering in Habeas Porpoise, the fourth novel of their Edgar-nominated series.

I hope you have at least half as much fun reading Bum Rap as I had writing it.

Paul Levine.

Miami-November 2014.

www.paul-levine.com.

ALSO AVAILABLE.

JAKE LASSITER SERIES.

"Mystery writing at its very, very best." -Larry King, USA Today TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD: Linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter begins to believe that his surgeon client is innocent of malpractice . . . but guilty of murder.

NIGHT VISION: After several women are killed by an Internet stalker, Jake is appointed a special prosecutor and heads to London and the very streets where Jack the Ripper once roamed.

FALSE DAWN: After his client confesses to a murder he didn't commit, Jake follows a bloody trail from Miami to Havana to discover the truth.

MORTAL SIN: Talk about conflicts of interest. Jake is sleeping with Gina Florio and defending her mob-connected husband in court.

RIPTIDE: Jake Lassiter chases a beautiful woman and stolen bonds from Miami to Maui.

FOOL ME TWICE: To clear his name in a murder investigation, Jake searches for buried treasure in the abandoned silver mines of Aspen, Colorado. (Also available in a new paperback edition.) FLESH & BONES: Jake falls for his beautiful client even though he doubts her story. She claims to have recovered "repressed memories" of abuse . . . just before gunning down her father.

LASSITER: Jake retraces the steps of a model who went missing eighteen years earlier . . . after his one-night stand with her. (Also available in a new paperback edition.) LAST CHANCE LASSITER: In this prequel novella, young Jake Lassiter has an impossible case: he represents Cadillac Johnson, an aging rhythm and blues musician who claims his greatest song was stolen by a top-of-the-charts hip-hop artist.

STATE vs. LASSITER: This time, Jake is on the wrong side of the bar. He's charged with murder! The victim? His girlfriend and banker, Pamela Baylins, who was about to report him to the authorities for allegedly stealing from clients. (Nominated for the 2014 Shamus Award.) SOLOMON vs. LORD SERIES (Nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber awards.) "A cross between Moonlighting and Night Court. Courtroom drama has never been this much fun." -Freshfiction.com SOLOMON vs. LORD: Trial lawyer Victoria Lord, who follows every rule, and Steve Solomon, who makes up his own, bicker and banter as they defend a beautiful young woman accused of killing her wealthy, older husband.

THE DEEP BLUE ALIBI: Solomon and Lord come together-and fly apart-defending Victoria's "Uncle Grif" on charges he killed a man with a speargun. It's a case set in the Florida Keys with side trips to coral reefs and a nudist colony where all is more-and less-than it seems.

KILL ALL THE LAWYERS: Just what did Steve Solomon do to infuriate ex-client and ex-con "Dr. Bill"? Did Solomon try to lose the case in which the TV shrink was charged in the death of a woman patient?

HABEAS PORPOISE: It starts with the kidnapping of a pair of trained dolphins and turns into a murder trial with Solomon and Lord on opposite sides after Victoria is appointed a special prosecutor, and fireworks follow!

STAND-ALONE THRILLERS.

IMPACT: A jetliner crashes in the Everglades. Is it negligence or terrorism? When the legal case gets to the Supreme Court, the defense has a unique strategy: kill anyone, even a Supreme Court justice, to win the case.

BALLISTIC: A nuclear missile, a band of terrorists, and only two people who can prevent Armageddon. A "loose nukes" thriller for the twenty-first century. (Also available in a new paperback edition.) ILLEGAL: Down-and-out lawyer Jimmy (Royal) Payne tries to reunite a Mexican boy with his missing mother and becomes enmeshed in the world of human trafficking and sex slavery.

PAYDIRT: Bobby Gallagher had it all and lost it. Now, assisted by his twelve-year-old brainiac son, he tries to rig the Super Bowl, win a huge bet . . . and avoid getting killed.

Visit the author's website at http://www.paul-levine.com for more information.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Photo Alan Weissman.

The author of nineteen novels, Paul Levine has won the John D. MacDonald fiction award and has been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, Shamus, and James Thurber prizes. A former Miami trial lawyer, he also wrote more than twenty episodes of the CBS military drama JAG and cocreated the Supreme Court drama First Monday starring James Garner and Joe Mantegna. The critically acclaimed international bestseller To Speak for the Dead was his first novel. He is also the author of the Solomon vs. Lord series and the thrillers Illegal, Ballistic, Impact, and Paydirt. A graduate of Penn State University and the University of Miami Law School, he lives in Coconut Grove, Florida. Readers can sign up for the author's newsletter and be eligible for signed books and prizes at www.paul-levine.com. For more information about Paul Levine's novels, visit his Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/Paul-Levine/e/B000APPYKG.

ALSO BY PAUL LEVINE.

THE JAKE LASSITER SERIES.

To Speak for the Dead.

Night Vision False Dawn.

Mortal Sin Riptide.

Fool Me Twice Flesh & Bones.

Lassiter Last Chance Lassiter.

State vs. Lassiter THE SOLOMON & LORD SERIES.

Solomon vs. Lord.

The Deep Blue Alibi Kill All the Lawyers Habeas Porpoise.

THE LASSITER, SOLOMON & LORD SERIES.

Bum Rap.

STAND-ALONE THRILLERS.

Impact.

Ballistic Illegal Paydirt.