by way of

The defendants are trying to limit their liability by way of Iowa’s cap on the recovery of noneconomic damages—damages without a market value, like damages for emotional distress and lost parent-child relationship—in a medical malpractice claim.

“My mom, she likes making these really annoying comments,” Dylan says, smiling, adding by way of explanation, “Because she’s a mom.”

As Lavorato memorably recounts in the book, she has done both: inadvertently doing herself in by way of an infused apple pie on one occasion and on another, an ex-boyfriend courtesy of a cross-contaminated paring knife.

“So you both have, you know, the legislative changes that reduce their tax liability, but also, you know the fact of change is that if you don't have much by way of enforcement, you have a lot of people that don’t pay their taxes,” Baker said.

At this point the series feels as if it might be heading into John Cheever territory — something like his short story “The Swimmer,” about a man crossing Westchester County by way of his neighbors’ pools, but with robbery.