[.ca] Naked Came The Phoenix (ISBN 1593351127)

Zany and fun but certainly not memorable.:
Naked Came The Phoenix was a book selection for two of my local reading groups because we were intrigued by its unusual format. Twelve bestselling mystery and suspense author joined together to contribute a chapter to this murder-mystery, soap-opera. The catch? Each other must pick up where the last left off and continue the story using the same cast of characters, all of who get zanier as the story progresses. The opening chapter written by Nevada Barr sets up the story and, in my opinion, was the driest, dullest entry in the entire book. It's here that the lifeless main characters are introduced (luckily they don't stay that way!). After the recent death of her father, Caroline, wife of a big shot Congressman, agrees to spend some quality bonding time with her difficult mother at a high-end health spa. Caroline's fellow guests at the spa include an aging rock legend, a quirky psychic, a starving model and loads of other oddballs and Hollywood "it" types. After the sloooow start, JD Robb picks up the tempo in chapter two. She breaths life into Caroline's character by bringing her down to earth in a funny little adventure brought about by hunger. She also adds a hunky pool-boy to the ever growing list of characters and kicks things into high gear by killing off the snooty spa owner! Things get silly as each character seems to harbor some dirty secret and the murder count becomes ridiculously high as each author adds their own little twists and turns to the story and attempts to pick up where the previous author left off. A friend of mine described the characters as "manic depressives" and she was right on. Each character switches moods and personalities from chapter to chapter which only added to the sense of fun. Eventually, all dangling threads and over-the-top plot twists were neatly brought together by author Laurie King. I'd read another book like Naked Came The Phoenix for the fun factor alone. But would I read this one again? Umm, probably not.

Prepare to laugh and be amazed by the mystery's ingenuity:
As a mystery lover, I laughed and marveled at this serial mystery because I could never predict what would happen page to page or chapter to chapter. Each author takes a turn at one chapter, and it's clear they enjoyed the characters and their opportunity to twist and turn the plot in many directions. The climax is clever and unexpected, but the real payoff is the unique style each author brings to her chapter. Kudos to Marcia Talley for bringing this wonderful group of authors together in one novel!

Great novel-- especially the way it was written.:
When I saw this book on the bookshelf, I stopped to look at it because I'd read Naked Came the Manatee. In the same tradition as Manatee, this book is written by numerous authors; each author writes a chapter and passes it onto the next one. Since the authors don't know how the next one will develop the story, this book has many characters and plot twists. Just when the reader thinks they like a character, a new author gets a hold of the story and then you don't like that character anymore. Or a character you don't like suddenly has reasons for their behavior, so they aren't so bad. Since there isn't any foreshadowing, there are few clues or foreshadowing to events that occur, creating an story where the reader just wants to know what's going to happened next. Filled with blackmail, murder, deception and quirky characters, I recommend this book for a weekend read or a fun vacation book.

GREAT MYSTERY:
This was a very entertaining story. Until the end of the story, the reader does not really know who the good or bad guys are. There are many twists and you are kept guessing until the end. Hope these authors get together again soon.

Blending a Voice: Naked Came The Phoenix:
When I saw this awhile back at my local library, I was intrigued with the concept but very skeptical of the results. In this serial novel written to benefit Breast Cancer Research, Marcia Talley brought together thirteen female mystery authors together to create a serial novel. The thirteen authors are: Nevada Barr, Nora Roberts, Nancy Pickard, Lisa Scottoline, Perri O'Shaughnessy, J. A. Jance, Faye Kellerman, Mary Jane Clark, Anne Perry, Diana Gabaldon, Val McDermid, Laurie R. King and the editor herself, Marcia Talley, who also adds a chapter. With that much talent and totally different writing styles and perceptions involved, I expected a choppy, uneven novel. While that does happen in a couple of places, overall the merge is very good with plenty of surprising twists and turns to keep the reader guessing all the way to the end. The novel opens with quite a cast of characters that have brought to the very upscale Phoenix Spa in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Featured front and center is Caroline Blessing, the young wife of a recently elected congressman and her overpowering mother, Hilda Finch. Two weeks earlier, Caroline's father, Hamlin Finch died due to throat cancer no doubt because of all the angry words trapped in his throat to Caroline's thinking. Hilda is a real piece of work and always gets her way by any means possible. Hilda has strongly insisted that she come to the Spa with her and Caroline, full of resentment, has done as she asked. Hilda knows the owner, Claudia de Vries from their first year at Brown University and their relationship is clearly not the best. Soon after introducing a number of characters, the Spa owner is found dead in a mud bath and clearly a victim of strangulation. Detective Vince Toscana, far from his beloved home in Philadelphia, is called to investigate and soon finds the fellow guests are less than helpful. Almost all of them have secrets and as rich, important people simply can't be bothered with a little problem of murder in their midst. What follows is a Colombo style movie of the week literary version with homage to Agatha Christie as the bodies begin to fall and his investigation seems to go nowhere. Caroline is forced to help against her wishes and uncovers more about her life and her past than she ever wanted to know. Overall, this is a well-written novel and it flows from start to finish. There is the occasional glitch as one author or another takes a character off on a different tangent, but overall this book works surprisingly well. The glitches are very minor and if anything, seem to add to the work and to remind the reader that this was a serial novel in the tradition of Naked Came the Manatee and Naked Came The Stranger. If you are looking for a work that symbolizes each author's unique writing style then this novel is not for you. But if you are interested in seeing how thirteen literary voices could be blended into one style, you won't be disappointed. A bit melodramatic at times, this is still one very good read.