LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla., March 7 (UPI) -- Barbara Parker, a lawyer and writer best known for a mystery series about Miami lawyers, died Saturday at the age of 62.
Parker, who lived in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, had been sick for some time, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. She died at Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton with her family at her side.
A graduate of the University of Miami Law School, Parker worked in the state's attorneys office and as a solo practitioner. Her sister, Laura Parker, said that when she became interested in writing she found a job as a paralegal with a Miami law firm.
"She lived on fumes and developed characters and plots on long bus rides from her apartment near Dadeland to downtown Miami," her sister said.
Parker's "Suspicion" series featured two Miami lawyers, Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana. She wrote the first, "Suspicion of Innocence," as her master's thesis in the writing program at Florida International University.
Parker served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America.
She is survived by a son and daughter, along with a brother and sister.
