Margins
The Big Payoff book cover
The Big Payoff
1975
First Published
3.67
Average Rating
186
Number of Pages

Part of Series

Set at the time of the North Sea oil boom, The Big Payoff marks the debut of Anna Peters, the witty, cynical character Booklist called "among the most complex, fully drawn female leads in crime fiction" and whom the New York Times lauded for her "sweetly unscrupulous deals".In The Big Payoff, Peters is employed in the research department of New World Oil Company, a position that suits this now reformed blackmailer. Happy with her lover, Harry, Anna has abandoned the seductive intellectual and psychological game of blackmail for the straight and narrow.But mysterious deaths among New World's British contacts convince Anna that something is wrong in the executive suite. Worse, she is soon blackmailed by a British secret service agent who's following the same trail.Anna reluctantly bugs her boss' phone and copies company files, but when her British contact turns up dead, Anna finds that sheand Harryare in mortal danger. Her old skills come in handy as she tries to keep ahead of ruthless killers, first in Washington, D.C. and then in the north of Scotland.The Big Payoff has been issued in British, Danish and Japanese editions and was a selection of the Detective Book Club. It was an Edgar Award nominee.Look for more of Janice Law's Anna Peters mysteries to become available in the near future.
Avg Rating
3.67
Number of Ratings
6
5 STARS
17%
4 STARS
33%
3 STARS
50%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Janice Law
Janice Law
Author · 17 books

Janice Law (b. 1941) is an acclaimed author of mystery fiction. The Watergate scandal inspired her to write her first novel, The Big Payoff (1977), which introduced Anna Peters, a street-smart young woman who blackmails her boss, a corrupt oil executive. The novel was a success, winning an Edgar nomination, and Law went on to write eight more in the series, including Death Under Par (1980) and Cross-Check (1997). After Death Under Par, Law set aside the character for several years to write historical mysteries The Countess (1989) and All the King’s Ladies (1986). After concluding the Peters series, she wrote three stand-alone suspense novels: The Night Bus (2000), The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed (2002), and Voices (2003). Since then, Law has focused on writing short stories, many of which appear in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Fires of London (2012) is her most recent novel. She lives and writes in Connecticut.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved