The Big Killing [Mass Market Paperback]

Annette Meyers (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Xenia Smith and Leslie Wetzon, an audacious team of executive headhunters, star in this sprightly debut of a mystery series that will hit the mark with fans of Emma Lathen. Many of those caught up in Wall Street's frenzied play-money world dream of one big killing, but when Barry Stark, a broker known for high stakes and low morals, goes after one financial coup too many, Wetzon finds him dead in a phone booth at the Four Seasons. As Barry's awful friends and loathsome business associates troop by with scads of deadly information, Wetzon is charming, though too brainless to be believed, and Smith keeps her eye so firmly trained on the main chance that she looks like a major suspect. A flurry of murders threatens to empty Wall Street's brokerage houses before a hardheaded, soft-eyed NYPD detective, working at cross purposes with Smith and a besotted Wetzon, can solve the puzzle. Meyers turns in a supremely likable whodunit, in spite of loose ends and a record number of red herrings.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Crimeline (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553284185
• ISBN-13: 978-0553284188
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,105,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ANNETTE MEYERS


Annette Meyers was born in Manhattan, grew up on a chicken farm in Toms River, NJ, graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and came running back to NYC as fast as she could. She is the author of 8 Smith and Wetzon Wall Street and Broadway mysteries, using her experience as a Wall Street headhunter and arbitrator, as well as her Broadway experience as Harold Prince's assistant. The most recent novel is Hedging. Her other works: 2 Olivia Brown 1920s Greenwich Village mysteries, Free Love and Murder Me Now; and a stand-alone psychological suspense novel: Repentances. Her noir short stories have appeared in many anthologies. One of these stories- "You Don't Know Me" - was included in James Ellroy's edited Best American Mystery Stories, 2002.
As Maan Meyers, she and her husband Martin write The Dutchman series. There are now 7 history mysteries in the series, and numerous short stories that feature characters from the novels. The setting is New York in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The 7th novel - The Organ Grinder - set in 1899, was published in October, 2008. THE DUTCHMAN, the first book in the series, is now available on Kindle
Annette was the 10th president of Sister in Crime. Website:www.meyersmysteries.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Big Killing, June 5, 2001

By 

"grammyjam33" (Niskayuna, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Killing (Paperback)

Anette Meyers' description of characters is so colorful and complete that you can actually see the characters. She has an uncanny way of describing each situation and feelings that she makes you feel as though it were happening to you. "The Big Killing" is a story about the stock market, stock brokers, head hunters and murder. The twist and turns in the plot makes it difficult to put the book down. It's a story about strong willed women in a man's world. It makes you want to be like them when you grow up, even if you're over ninety. For the mystery lover, this is a must.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good news for mystery readers!, June 20, 2001

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Big Killing (Hardcover)

Thanks to the success of her newest series, featuring Olivia Brown (Free Love, Murder Me Now), the publishing world has rediscovered Annette Meyers and is reissuing her classing Wall St. series - the "Smith & Wetzon" books.

The Big Killing, the first in this series, and arguably the best, was first printed in 1989 and led the way for a view into the fast-paced, self indulgent world of wall street traders and the executives who "headhunt" them for New York firms. Meyers inserts her personal knowledge of Wall St. and couples it with her fascination and experience in musical theatre. Both Wall St. and Broadway are caricature settings for excessive behaviors, and you will find a lot of caricature characters in Meyers' series. Leading the way is Xenia Smith (a quote: "It's about money, it's always about money"), partner in executive search with Leslie Wetzon, a former Broadway dancer. Smith is amusing and always entertaining, with her series of rich paramours and her need to stick her nose into everyone's business, especially Wetzon's.

More finely drawn are the characters of Wetzon, Silvestri (think George Clooney in need of a shave) and Carlos Prince, who can literally jump off the pages of these books. New York city sights also play a starring role, and Meyers delights in refamiliarizing those of us no longer in the city with descriptions of local landmarks that make the books come alive. My favorite? Steven Sondheim's residence, at which Wetzon always pays homage by the tip of a beret.

The Big Killing starts off with a "bang", as Barry Stark, eager to jump to another firm, gets killed at the site of a clandestine meeting with Wetzon. Shocked by the incident, Wetzon gets drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery, which stays a mystery until the final pages of the novel. Readers will be moved by the need and the caring that is generated by the Wetzon-Silvestri relationship, no matter how many times Wetzon gets involved with another man.

Read the Big Killing, and then enjoy the rest of the series (starting with "Tender Death") as they are released again for new fans of this interesting author. Enjoy!

2.0 out of 5 stars Kind of/Kind of not, October 10, 2007

By 

M, Compulsive Reader (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Killing (Paperback)

Good characters, vivid Wall St./New York backdrop. Heroine quite naive in reading people, not picking up on clues, to be a brilliant connector oe people and positions. Perhaps better for those knowledgeable about financial workings.