Suspicion of Malice (Hardcover)

by Barbara Parker (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1st Printing edition (April 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525945423
• ISBN-13: 978-0525945420
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,124,795 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite suspens authors writes a great work, April 19, 2000

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Once they were lovers planning to marry until Anthony Quintana turned his back on his obligation to the law, forcing Gail Connor to walk out on him. He went to Spain to forget his feeling of betrayal while she remained in Miami just as determined to overcome her feeling of deceit. She started to make a life for herself and her daughter from a previous relationship. Unbeknownst to Anthony when he left her, Gail was pregnant with his child.

A chance encounter with Anthony's eighteen-year old daughter Angela results in Gail accepting the teen's boyfriend Bobby as a client. Bobby, who has been previously convicted of some petty criminal activity, is suspected of killing Roger Cresswell, owner of Cresswell Yachts, who fired the lad for allegedly stealing. One person who Bobby insists can provide him with an alibi and prove he is not guilty is Judge Nathan Harris, a person under consideration for an appointment to the US District Court. Heeding the advice of his attorney, Nathan sends his lawyer Anthony to deal with Gail. As the two former lovers closely work together to prove Bobby's innocence, their relationship flares to life once again.

As suspense novels go, the Connor-Quintana novels rank with the best ones, but SUSPICION OF MALICE provides the audience much more than an exciting legal thriller. The tale is a relationship drama that will remind readers of the works of Delinsky and Siddons. The investigation is fascinating but the heart and soul of the tale rests in the relationship between Gail and Anthony, two obstinate but compatible individuals. Barbara Parker shows much talent in this exciting thriller has cross-genre appeal.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Literate and lively, June 6, 2000

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Barbara Parker cleverly entwines the emotional tension between her two series characters, Miami lawyer Gail Connor and her former fiancé, Cuban criminal attorney Anthony Quintana, with a whodunit puzzle among the vicious rich.

Found murdered in his cousin's backyard after a wild party, Roger Cresswell, heir to a yacht-building fortune, turns out to have been spectacularly unpopular. His bimbo wife was sleeping with the aforementioned cousin, his ill father furiously regretted turning over the reins of his company, his uncle feared discovery of his embezzlements, the uncle's clever wife and her lover, the yacht-yard supervisor, feared that Roger was going to run the venerable company into the ground.

But with all these great suspects to choose from, the police focus on a young Puerto Rican ballet dancer from the New York slums. Though Connor is no criminal lawyer, Quintana's daughter Angela begs her to take on the dancer, her secret boyfriend. Connor tracks down the dancer's reluctant alibi witness (a judicial candidate) and discovers Quintana is his lawyer.

The tension of their recent, explosive break-up is exacerbated by Connor's pregnancy. She has not told Quintana and is considering abortion. And the dancer is seeing Angela against her father's express wishes. But Connor and Quintana manage to team up to clear Connor's client and keep Quintana's out of it - by presenting the police with a new suspect. All this sounds convoluted, even contrived when I say it, but Parker makes it sound quite reasonable.

The detective and legal work is clever and though the rich family is typically corrupt and dysfunctional, the sparks between the two likable protagonists keep things lively. Parker's literate writing style and thoughtful characterizations is highly satisfying.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one's much improved!, May 19, 2000

By	Happy Scherer (Delmar, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have really enjoyed the Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana series; however, I was disappointed in the last one. But Parker has really redeemed herself. The characters sizzle along, the plot is unusual and interesting, and the resurrection of the love story which appeared doomed (stay tuned) was done quite well... I was happy that Gail seems to be acting more responsibly and ethically and thus more believable - she is flawed, but not stupid... One suggestion - the relationships of the various characters took awhile to iron out, and other than the "surprise" one - perhaps it would have been helpful to include a family "tree" in the opening pages - it would have helped to focus on the story as it got going.....