October 20 - 26, 2009
COMMUNITYNEWSPAPERS.COM
Page 25
Former Miami lawyer/author comes back for book fair BY LINDA RODRIGUEZ BERNFELD Mystery author Paul Levine is coming back to Miami, his home for 30 years, to take part in the Miami International Book Fair, Nov. 8-15. “It is in a large measure like coming home,” said the former resident of Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. “And I get a chance to see people I see so seldom any more. Even driving in from the airport, hmm, the skyline looks different. I do enjoy seeing how the place changes, a place that I know so well.” Levine, who now lives in Los Angeles, credits the book fair with helping change the perception of South Florida as a place that lacked culture. “The book fair at this point has such a national reputation,” he said. “With major authors and all the big publishing houses vying to go.” The first time Levine spoke at the book fair, he was promoting his first mystery series about Jake Lassiter, an exMiami dolphin, who went to night law school. “He’s a tough guy lawyer, not a brilliant lawyer. He leads with his chin. He does have a nose for justice. He broke a nose for justice,” Levine said. “He’s done it for justice, and he’s done in the courtroom and back as a football player, he took one in the face mask.” The first book in that series was called To Speak for the Dead. He’s celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Lassiter series with the reissue of the first book and the publication of a new Lassiter book, the first since 1997. The Lassiter books earned Levine the John D. McDonald Fiction Award. The first book was made into a TV movie. Levine is a graduate of Penn State University, where he majored in journalism, and the University of Miami Law School. He was a practicing attorney before getting into writing. He still has friends here so when he needs to check out locations and facts, he calls one of them. “I called Dave Barry the other day about the bridge over Brickell Avenue, whether that bridge is that still a draw bridge,” Levine said. “I gotta know, because (if you’re wrong) then you get letters. Reviewers love to find mistakes. I also come over and I revisit places where I’m setting scenes.” At the book fair, Levine will promote his latest book, Illegal, featuring Jimmy (Royal) Payne. Illegal was inspired by
FOOTNOTES
real events. Levine says on his website it’s a “tale of broken borders and shattered hearts, a thriller with a social conscience.” Levine is the author of the Solomon vs. Lord series, which has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, the Macvity International Thriller Writers and the James Thurber awards. He left Miami to go to Hollywood to write for the television show JAG. He wrote 22 episodes of the hit show and he also developed a short-lived show about the Supreme Court called First Monday starring James Garner and Charles Durning. He says television is not in his future unless the series is based on one of his books. “I did sell to CBS Solomon vs. Lord, my series before Illegal. We did a pilot in 2005,” he said. When the pilot was not picked up, he said he thought he’d to stay in his study and do his books. Paul Levine is reading with Jeff Lindsay, author of Dexter by Design and Richard Belzer, I’m Not a Psychic, at 11 a.m. on Sat. Nov. 14. For more information, go to <www.Miamibookfair.com>.
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