Suspicion of Malice (The Suspicion Series) - Softcover

Parker, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1497639190 ISBN 13: 9781497639195

Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller, 2014

Synopsis

A murder case pits Miami attorney Gail Connor against her ex, Anthony Quintana, in this “fast-paced” thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author (Publishers Weekly).

In the fifth title in the Suspicion series, Suspicion of Malice, Gail and Anthony have recently broken up and find themselves on opposite sides of a tangled case when Anthony’s teenage daughter comes to Gail to defend her boyfriend in a capital murder case. Gail takes the case, expecting to have easy access to a reluctant but nonetheless available exonerating witness—until she meets her witness’s lawyer, Anthony Quintana. The personal and professional passions run high, with a young man’s life on the line and conflict of interest in the air.

Suspicion of Malice is the 5th book in the Suspicion series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

About this title

Review:

Bobby Gonzales, a promising young dancer with the Miami ballet, is the only suspect in the murder of Roger Cresswell, whose family has been building yachts for wealthy Floridians for two decades. Bobby is also the secret boyfriend of Angela Quintana, whose father Anthony, a successful criminal attorney, is having trouble letting go of the two main women in his life: his daughter and his former fiancée, Gail Connor. Angela asks Gail to help her clear Bobby; Gail is torn, knowing her participation will bring her face to face with the man she still loves.

Roger is the second Cresswell to die violently; his sister, a talented artist who was the wife of Anthony Quintana's client, took her life at the height of her fame. Those facts seem like more than coincidence to Gail, whose efforts to unravel the family secrets that seem to be at the core of the Cresswell deaths are complicated by her fondness for Angela, her belief in Bobby's innocence, and a surprising secret of her own.

Suspicion of Malice is as much a love story as a murder mystery, but Parker invests her plot with enough stylish touches to keep the momentum going. She excels at characterization--Gail's emotional depths and conflicted feelings are well explicated, Anthony's old-world machismo and modern vulnerabilities sympathetically portrayed, and the secondary players, especially Gail's mother and Anthony's grandfather, clearly and convincingly drawn. As in previous outings (Suspicion of Deceit, Suspicion of Betrayal), Parker has used the sexual tension between Gail and Anthony as they collaborate in crime-solving to good effect; how the events in their relationship that drive this thriller to its violent conclusion will affect their professional as well as personal affairs awaits a future installment. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

Barbara Parker was trained as a lawyer and worked as a prosecutor with the state attorney’s office in Dade County, Florida, before moving into a private practice that specialized in real estate and family law. Parker earned a master’s degree in creative writing in 1993. Her first legal thriller was Suspicion of Innocence, published in 1994, which was followed by another seven titles in the series featuring her two lawyer protagonists, and sometime lovers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana. While writing the series, she also produced Criminal Justice, Blood Relations, The Perfect Fake, and The Dark of Day. Suspicion of Innocence was a finalist for the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Two of her titles, Suspicion of Deceit and Suspicion of Betrayal were New York Times bestsellers. Barbara Parker died in March 2009, at age sixty-two.

About this edition

• Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1497639190
• ISBN 13: 9781497639195
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 326