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“If your cause is just, no case is impossible.” – Jake Lassiter

In this gripping prequel to the best-selling Jake Lassiter series, things aren’t going well for Jake. First he loses his job at a deep-carpet law firm and moves into a dumpy office in a Miami Beach parking garage. Then his lawyer-girlfriend dumps him for not being “partnership material.” To make things even worse, he’s facing disbarment after punching out his own client.

With his personal life in chaos, Jake must fight overwhelming odds to represent Cadillac Johnson, an aging rhythm and blues musician who claims his greatest song was stolen by a top-of-the-charts hip-hop artist.

Will Jake Lassiter’s own iconoclastic rules spell his downfall?

Last Chance Lassiter takes readers back into his past and answers many questions about the backstory of the linebacker-turned-lawyer. Why did he leave a major law firm to go it alone? How did he develop the unique set of rules he lives by? And will those rules cause more harm than good?

Fans of the Jake Lassiter series will relish the chance to get to know a younger Jake and fill in the gaps in his rocky past.

Jake Lassiter faces an ethical dilemma in the outstanding legal thriller Flesh & Bones. “How far would I go for a woman who mattered? Is there anything I wouldn’t do to win?”

Flesh & Bones follows Lassiter as he fights his emotions in the case of Chrissy Bernhardt, a beautiful young model who’s in the dock for the murder of her father. Dozens of people saw her gun him down – but she claims it was because she’d just recovered repressed childhood memories of sexual abuse at his hands. Though Jake suspects that she’s fabricated the memories, or had them planted by a shady psychiatrist, he’s fallen for her – and it clouds his judgment.

Is Chrissy an anguished victim or a cold-blooded killer? Jake’s search for answers leads him into a quagmire of dirty deals, big money and family corruption, all the while having no idea whether he’s being played by his own client.

Jake Lassiter: “A good lawyer is part con man, part priest”

Flesh & Bones sees Lassiter’s ethics pushed to their limits as he battles with the dilemma of how far he’s prepared to go to set Chrissy free. Jake’s emotional side takes center stage in this gripping thriller, culminating in an explosive courtroom finale that will keep even seasoned thriller fans up late into the night.

Praise

“Enough courtroom shenanigans to please even the most stalwart John Grisham fan.” – Lansing (MI) State Journal

“Flesh & Bones is proof that the John D. MacDonald award [for author Paul Levine] was well deserved.” – Detroit Free Press

“The author keeps the suspense high with innovative twists…and touches of humor that spice up the courtroom scenes.” – Chicago Tribune

“Another winner.” – Publishers Weekly

“Lassiter is coming on fast as one of the most entertaining series characters in contemporary crime fiction.” – Booklist

“Levine’s prose gets leaner, meaner, better with every book…And Jake Lassiter has a lot more charisma than Perry Mason ever did.” – The Miami Herald

“A nonstop tale of greed, incest and emotional vulnerability set against the backdrop of the international model scene…Above all, Levine turns out another enjoyable, breathless thriller.” – South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“Filled with smart writing and smart remarks…Jake is well on his way to becoming a star in the field of detective fiction.” – Dallas Morning News

“A well-focused plot that stresses in-depth characterization and action that is more psychological than macho…The author keeps the suspense high with innovative twists.” – Atlanta Journal Constitution

“I have always enjoyed the Jake Lassiter adventures and envied his James Bond ability to choose cases which involve prompt amours with gorgeous women, plus a Bond-like ability to survive fire, flood, beatings and being shot at….The best Lassiter story to date.” – Greenwich (CT) Time

“The genuine article…the most dangerous detective liaison since Sam Spade and Brigid O’Shaughnessy tangoed in The Maltese Falcon.” – Charlotte News & Observer

“Hey, Lassiter. You ever hear the expression ‘Fool me once, shame on you?’”

“Sure. ‘Fool me twice, shame on me.’”

“Nope. ‘Fool me twice, you’re dead.’”

In Fool Me Twice, a grisly murder case takes linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter from the beaches of Miami to the slopes of Aspen in his greatest challenge yet.

With Jake the prime suspect in the murder of an associate found dead in Jake’s house, his neck is on the line if he doesn’t nab the real killer. But a mysterious ex-girlfriend and a dangerous rancher with a lethal nail gun stand in his way as Jake — accompanied by his delinquent nephew — follows a bloody trail that leads to a search for buried treasure beneath the Colorado ski slopes.

The characters converge in an explosive finale in an abandoned silver mine, where Lassiter confronts his checkered past and his precarious future.

Jake Lassiter’s career – and his life – hang in the balance.

Jake Lassiter must figure out who are his friends and who are his enemies in this thrilling page-turner that the Los Angeles Times has described as “Delicious.” A fast-paced addition to the best-selling Jake Lassiter series, every page of Fool Me Twice will have readers desperate to know what happens next.

Praise

“Wildly entertaining blend of raucous humor and high adventure.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A fast-paced thriller filled with action, humor, mystery and suspense.” – Miami Herald

“Delicious.” – Los Angeles Times

“Blend the spicy characters created by Elmore Leonard with the legal expertise and suspense made famous by John Grisham and you have Paul Levine’s Fool Me Twice.” – Lake Worth Herald

“I’ve never been disbarred, committed or convicted of moral turpitude, and the only time I was arrested, it was a case of mistaken identity…I didn’t know the guy I hit was a cop.”

In Riptide, an angry Jake Lassiter goes on the trail of $1.6 million in negotiable bonds ripped off from his favorite client, octogenarian Sam Kazdoy.

As he goes on the hunt for the missing money, things take a more sinister turn when Jake’s old buddy, Berto Zaldivar, a lawyer-turned-smuggler, ends up dead.

From Miami to Bimini to Maui.

The painstaking search for clues for both these crimes takes him to a menacing professional windsurfer and his companion Lila Summers, a champion athlete and lethal femme fatale. Determined to get to the bottom of what happened to the money and discover who was responsible for the death his friend, Jake’s detective work leads him from Miami to Maui via Bimini, and ultimately ends in an explosive finale in which he learns lessons never taught on the football field or in the courtroom.

Riptide was originally published as a hardcover under the title Slashback. Here’s what others have said about this gripping novel.

Praise

“A thriller as fast as the wind…a bracing rush, as breathtaking as hitting the Gulf waters on a chill December morning.” – Tampa Tribune

“A lively and skilled caper.” – Los Angeles Times

“Sparkles as a mystery and a character study.” – South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“A tale involving drug smuggling and murder, windsurfing and murder, multi-million dollar thievery and murder. The action never stops.” – Denver Rocky Mountain News

“One of the best mystery writers in the business today. The story fairly leaps with enthusiasm toward the finale. Riptide is Paul Levine’s finest work.” – Ocala (FL) Star Banner

“Paul Levine is guilty of master storytelling in the first degree.” – Carl Hiaasen

“They don’t call us sharks for our ability to swim.”

Jake Lassiter faces an ethical dilemma that isn’t on the Bar exam…and might get him killed.

In his toughest case yet, he’s sleeping with Gina Florio while defending her mob-connected, homicidal husband in a wrongful death suit.

One false move, and Jake will be gator bait.

When environmentalist Peter Tupton freezes to death on Florio’s property on the hottest day of a sweltering Miami summer, Jake becomes convinced that this death was no accident.

Determined to uncover the truth, he follows a trail of evidence that leads him deep into the Everglades, where Florio is apparently pursuing a scheme to bring casino gambling to an Indian reservation. Jake discovers that what’s really going on is a far more sinister plot that oozes corruption, blood and money.

Living by his own rules, the savvy Jake Lassiter battles a world of deceit, perversity and mayhem to risk body and soul for truth, justice and the Lassiter Way.

Read what others have to say about Paul Levine’s Mortal Sin.

Praise

“Engaging…lively…colorful. The plot races with mounting tension.” – Miami Herald

“Just the remedy for those who can’t get enough Spenser and miss Travis McGee terribly.” – St. Petersburg Times

“Mortal Sin may not be better than a trip to Florida, but it’s the next best thing.” – Detroit Free Press

“Fun…the action is non-stop.” – Chicago Tribune

“Recalling the work of Carl Hiaasen, this thriller races to a smashing climax.” – Library Journal

“Wonderfully funny, sexy, and terrifying.” – Dave Barry

“Take one part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen, throw in a dash of John D. MacDonald, and voila! You’ve got Mortal Sin.” – Tulsa World

“Jake Lassiter is great fun.” – New York Times Book Review

“Hilarious, sexy, and full of blood-curdling action. This is Paul Levine at his rollicking and unrivaled best.” – Edna Buchanan