In Paul Levine's novel Solomon vs. Lord, he introduced readers to the unlikely combo of Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord, mismatched Florida lawyers with little in common besides a passion for the law - and one another. The precise, sophisticated Victoria and the slovenly, haphazard Solomon made engaging foils for one another, somewhat in the vein of a contemporary Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn (albeit both a touch more vulgar and provocative than Hepburn and Tracy were normally on film).
As their relationship took the expected turn from adversarial to romantic, Levine kept his story fresh by using his zany South Florida setting to his advantage (both the flash and the sleaze, as it were, of the South Beach scene). He also managed to keep the verbal interplay between the characters engaging and often hilariously barbed.
In The Deep Blue Alibi, Levine introduces the lovebirds to a new quandary: namely, how to live with each other. Victoria feels like the junior partner in their two-person firm, and senses that, whether intentionally or not, Steve isn't working very hard to change the status quo. Steve, meanwhile, is too preoccupied with his own decision to challenge his father's suspension from the Florida bar (for alleged misdeeds committed while acting as a state court judge) to notice or completely comprehend Victoria's concerns.
Consequently, when Hal Griffin, a one-time business partner of Victoria's father, is charged with murder, Victoria steps into the breach - ostensibly by herself. Griffin is accused of murdering an EPA official. In a twist on the "closed room" murder so identified with Agatha Christie, the crime occurred on Griffin's yacht while the two men were out at sea and Griffin was attempting to bribe the guy to go along with his plans for a huge offshore resort and gambling establishment supposedly designed to be connected to a coral reef. Nobody else was supposed to be onboard the boat, the EPA official was shot with Griffin's spear gun, and the police didn't find anyone else on the yacht when Griffin crashed it into a Florida beach.
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