The Big Killing — Annette Meyers

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. (June)