The Dark of Day

Book excerpt: Miamis hard-partying culture is the backdrop for Parkers latest, a stand-alone featuring CJ Dunn, defense lawyer to the rich and famous. CJ knows aa lotabout partying, having done her sharewith boyfriend Billy Medina, who throws some of theclassiest galas in town. When pretty Alana Martin disappears from one of them, Rick Slater, bodyguard-driver of a localpolitician, is tagged as the last to see her, and CJ, with a possible CNN gig to entice her, agrees to manage the fallout. Slaterclaims he is innocent, but as curious CJ investigates, she finds herself not onlybecoming more skeptical ofher client but also recalling her own youthful mistakes. Parkers earliernovels, especially her Gail Connor series, have earned kudos, but this one is less successful.The multiplestory threadsmostly come together by the close, but not withoutsomestretching, andthe prose this time sometimes verges close to clich.That said, Parker has her fans, and female lawyers are a hot commodity in the genre at the mo