From Amazon.com
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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Florida attorney Parker has produced a new installment in her series of legal thrillers that feature Miami lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana. Since the previous novel (Suspicion of Betrayal), Gail has split up with her Cuban-born lover, the rich and sleek Quintana. But events conspire to throw them together again when Roger Creswell, the heir to a yacht-building fortune, is shot dead during a wild party. Bobby Gonzalez, a dancer with the Miami City Ballet, is the prime suspect in the murder. Despite her father's opposition, Anthony's teenage daughter, Angela, is taking dance lessons with the ballet company. Having fallen in love with Bobby, Angela asks Gail to help exonerate him. Meanwhile, Anthony is investigating the murder on behalf of a friend of the victim's family. As in her earlier mysteries, Parker serves up an enticing plate of murder and intrigue baked by the hot Florida sun. Gail and Anthony generate more heat and sexual tension, while the painful history of Anthony's Cuban family adds poignancy. This fast-paced story may get overly dramatic at times, but that's more than made up for by its inspired mix of sexy love story, sulky teenagers, family feuds and secrets, dramatic contrasts between different cultures and sharp outbreaks of murder and mayhem. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
