Cheater's GameRemember last week when I posted about Cheater’s Game and I said that I’d hoped to have a Q&A with the author? Here it is. If you’d told me 20 years ago, that I’d get Paul Levine to respond to a handful of questions I asked him for a blog? I wouldn’t have believed you—but I’d think that was a great story. His series of legal thrillers, Solomon vs. Lord, is still one of my all-time favorite series.

According to his website, Levine ” worked as a newspaper reporter, a law professor and a trial lawyer before becoming a full-time novelist. Obviously, he cannot hold a job. Paul claims that writing fiction comes naturally: he told whoppers for many years in his legal briefs.Paul Levine

His books have been translated into 23 languages, none of which he can read.”

And now, he’s wasting a little bit of time with me. For which I am very grateful.

 

Most authors have dozens of ideas bouncing around their craniums at once</i>what was it about this idea that made you say, “Yup—this College Admissions scandal is the perfect thing for Lassiter”?
The day the story broke last year, I knew I wanted to put Jake Lassiter into the middle of the scandal. My first thought: “Have those parents lost their minds?” Here were these well-educated, well-to-do parents cheating, bribing, and lying their kids into so-called elite universities. Call me naive, but I was astonished. I thought the moral implications interwoven with a criminal trial would be fascinating.
I’m sure even at this stage of your career, there are challenges and surprises to the writing process itself—what surprised you the most, or was the biggest challenge to getting Cheater’s Game written?
Legal thrillers almost always involve homicide trials. Murder is the crime that strikes the deepest emotional chord. Cheating to get into college, technically mail fraud, isn’t nearly as sexy. My challenge was to create a trial just as exciting with as many twists and turns as the “Witness for the Prosecution” or “Anatomy of a Murder.” Okay, maybe not quite as many, but you get the idea. Lassiter’s brain damage complicates the case. So does his inexperience in federal court and his anguish at having to defend his nephew.
I truly appreciated the way that Lassiter interacted with the federal prosecutor, Margaret Bolden—while adversarial, it’s not the typical depiction of prosecutor/defense attorney. What made you go this route?
I’ve created my share of prosecutors who are arrogant or self-righteous or mean-spirited or just automatons. But I have great respect for career prosecutors who are truly professional and treat opposing counsel with respect. Margaret Bolden is a savvy Assistant U.S. Attorney who’s tough but plays by the rules. She’s a good match for the wily Lassiter, who gets by on street smarts, rather than an encyclopedic knowledge of the law.
You’ve been writing Lassiter for a long time—is there part of you that has a hard time putting the character through this health challenge?
I lost a friend to C.T.E., the brain disease afflicting former football players. Like Lassiter, my pal was a lawyer and former player. It felt right that Lassiter, who made his living on the “suicide squads,” would be stricken. Obviously, for everyone’s sake, I’m hoping there’s a cure down the road.
Is this the end of the line for Lassiter, or does he have another case or two in his future?
Hah! Lassiter told me he retired after “Bum Deal” in 2018. But when his beloved nephew Kip gets indicted for taking other kids’ SAT exams as an imposter, well, what choice did he have but to get back in the courtroom? I suspect Jake has one more case in him.
This last one is purely selfish: I was a huge fan of the Solomon vs. Lord series, and I see they’ve appeared in the Lassiter books, any chance of them getting another novel, or are they just one more reason for me to go through the Lassiter backlist?
I get a ton of mail asking for another “Solomon vs. Lord” novel. Now, of course, they’re in some recent books. Lassiter defends Steve Solomon in a murder trial in “Bum Rap.” And Lassiter squares off against Solomon and Victoria Lord in “Bum Deal.” But a lot of readers are asking for the squabbling law partners (and lovers) to have a story of their own. We’ll see.
Thanks for your time and willingness to let me badger you with these questions—I really enjoyed Cheater’s Game and hope that it finds the audience it deserves.
Thank you!