Suspicion of Guilt

by Barbara Parker

Overview

When a Palm Beach widow dies, the dispute over her will turns deadly in this “breathlessly paced legal thriller” from a New York Times–bestselling author (Publishers Weekly).

When wealthy Palm Beach dowager Althea Tillett dies under suspicious circumstances, it sparks a battle between those in line for an inheritance—including Gail Connor’s old law school classmate and former lover Patrick Norris. He thinks someone has tampered with his aunt’s will—preventing him from receiving millions he hoped to use for an urban renewal project.
 
Although discouraged from getting involved by her own law firm and her lover, Cuban-American attorney Anthony Quintana, Gail agrees to look into Althea’s rapacious relatives. But she soon finds herself in the middle of a family feud that’s about much more than money. It’s about secrets, lies, forgery . . . and murder.
 
Written by a former prosecutor, this “provocative, breathless” national bestseller “will surprise you” (The Plain Dealer).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781497639164
Publisher:	Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Publication date:	07/22/2014
Series:	The Suspicion Series , #2
Pages:	378
Sales rank:	657,358
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

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.

Editorial Reviews

Returning in this accomplished sequel to Suspicion of Innocence, Miami attorney Gail Connor faces serious career choices. After spirited widow Althea Tillett is found dead in her kitschy Miami home, a number of local charities are positioned to benefit from her will. But Patrick Norris, Althea's nephew and Gail's old law school buddy who had dropped out to do good, suspects the will is a fake. If so, he, as Althea's only survivor, stands to gain all of the multimillion-dollar estate. Gail agrees to represent him, a decision which causes problems at her firm (where she's about to be made partner), with her lover, Anthony Quintana, and in her home life as she struggles to reconcile principle with ambition and cope with the demands of raising her 10-year-old daughter. When the police determine that Althea was murdered, Patrick becomes the prime suspect and Gail is soon searching for a forger and killer. She discovers that many interests are being protected, some of them by Miami's elite. Parker controls her narrative assuredly-she's at her best with boardroom scenes that crackle with tension-and she unabashedly goes after the big finish. While some of the characterization seems clichd, it all fits the steamy Miami setting of power and ambition. Overall, this is a breathlessly paced legal thriller with a powerful punch. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Miami attorney Gail Connor has no idea what's in store for her when she accepts old friend Patrick Norris as a client. The estate of wealthy Althea Tibbett is one prize in a bitter battle between unreformed flower child Patrick, his artistic cousins, and an assortment of charities. Soon, Connor finds deeper and deeper complications, including murder, career criminals, and financial misdeeds of the lowest kind. The occasional predictability of the plot is balanced by Connor's dilemmas, so familiar to many women: an adolescent daughter still grieving for her absent father, a romantic Hispanic attorney tentatively learning to know both mother and daughter, and the elusive goal of a partnership in an influential law firm if Connor compromises certain ideals. This is a good if unexceptional addition to the legal suspense genre. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/94.]-Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.

Library Journal