Customer Reviews

Naked Came the Phoenix

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Naked Came the Phoenix is a riot from beginning to end! When Caroline and her mother visit the Phoenix Spa in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, they expect rest and relaxation, but soon after their arrival, the spa's owner is found dead in the mud baths and the "fun" begins! Thirteen popular mystery writers take the reader on a roller-coaster ride of murder, mayhem and mirth. What fun to watch one author plant a clue then lean back, rub her hands together and wait to see what the next author does with it! Kudos to Nevada Barr for introducing us to the cast of supporting characters -- King David, the aged rocker; Ondine, the wrath-like model; Howie Fondulac, the has-been Hollywood producer; Lauren Sullivan, the movie star; and my particular favorite, Phyllis Talmadge, the psychic who's at the spa touting her latest book, Flex Your Psychic Muscles! Brava, Lisa Scottoline for giving us detective Vince Toscana, who "retired" to rural Virginia to please his wife, but wants nothing more than to sink his teeth into a Philly cheese steak, and, oh, by-the-way, solve the murders. Wheee, to JA Jance who drowns a victim in the lake and to Faye Kellerman, who knew CPR! Ka-pow, to Diana Gabaldon who really knows how to throw the reader a curve. Ye-gads, to Val McDermid who gives new meaning to the word "incarnadine". Wow, to the amazing Laurie King, who ties up all the loose ends with delicious tongue-in-cheek humor. And, thank you, Marcia Talley who sewed the patchwork together into one, seamless novel and is a heck of a writer, too!! All I can say is, "Encore"!!

First of all, to enjoy this sort of novel, you have to be able to appreciate what's going on behind the scenes: backstabbing; plot-twisting; character reinventions. And I'm not talking about the story itself. I'm talking about what the 13 authors are trying to do to each other!

The genre originated wonderfully with the august members of the British Detection Club way back in 1931, in a "serial" novel in which the various authors contrived ways to skullduggle not only the reader but each other and try to make it almost impossible for the final writer to wrap everything up neatly and tie it with a bowknot. That effort, "The Floating Admiral," is still the very best of its type. More recently, it's been done with sparkling wit by the Miami bunch including Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry in a delicious romp entitled "Naked Came the Manatee."

Now it's been tackled by a baker's dozen of America's female mystery writers. Yes, the plot is silly. Yes, the characters aren't all that fully developed. But who cares? The enjoyment of this book, as the others, is in seeing what each successive writer is doing to skewer what has already been written (without, however, contradicting it) and send the story reeling in a provocatively new direction. New openings are abruptly cut off at the knees. (Is she dead? Or is she only concussive?) Contrasting scenarios challenge what you think you've already assuredly figured out.

It doesn't really matter who winds up having done what to whom. If you're enjoying the wicked twists being perpetrated not by the characters but by their creators, then what you're looking for is how the final writer responds to the challenge of wrapping everything up with no loose ends and no plot spins left twisting in the wind--not even the yellow polkadot bikini! And in this regard, Laurie King shines splendidly.

As I closed the book, I was imagining the final dinner party those naughty thirteen were having after they all got to read King's inventive closure, and what a laugh they were enjoying. But the laughter is not at our expense. We share in it.

I had read one serial novel, Naked Came the Manatee, before and didn't think it was so hot, so I wasn't sure I should buy Naked Came the Phoenix, but since it was written by just about my all-time favorite mystery authors, I bought it this weekend and boy, am I glad I did!! It's so funny!!! I loved the way the quirky characters were introduced in chapter one and how each author picked up the threads in her chapter and added twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. It was fun to read the different writing styles and I was amazed how well each author picked up on the "vibes" of the previous author. Awesome!!!

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.

This is a readable tale for a rainy evening, but using thirteen authhors for the thirteen chapters resulted in some extreme changes of direction. It sounded like a cast of characters with multiple personality disorders. Some chapters are better than others. Caroline's raid on the kitchen is really funny. But other chapters don't seem to come across as well. A few situations are transparent, and others are a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it ended up with too many twists and turns.

Considering some of my favorite authors were involved in this collaboration I had high hopes of a fast paced, fun mystery. It was OK but the little things bothered me. The policeman who was described as a bear and a Columbo type and then described by another author as a hunk. Caroline, the main character, didn't seem to be consistent in her behavior or her characterization. And the ending seemed rushed and a little trite. I thought the explaination of the bikini bottom was silly and unclear.

Although my husband also reads a number of these authors I couldn't even recommend the book to him. Just not worth the time.

I have enjoyed all of J.D. Robb's books and I was looking forward to sampling some of the other authors' writing. However, it was difficult to enjoy this book. There was little depth in character development and the plot was illogical and unconvincing. Perhaps this is typical of this type of serial novel, but this was a disappointing read.

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.

The most enjoyable part of the plot in this mystery novel isn't the mystery itself. It's the knowledge that 13 accomplished mystery authors wrote it together -- one chapter after another. The rules are simple: Each chapter is written in the third person and with a definite solution in view, even though subsequent authors might (and do) take the plot in divergent directions. There is no going back; Laurie King couldn't ask J.D. Robb to change a clue, and Diana Gabaldon couldn't edit Faye Kellerman's chapter to put a gun on the table. The result is a twisty, turny plot in which all the authors had fun -- but not at the reader's expense.

It's a very lightweight mystery, as such things go -- a beach read or an airline ride. And it probably won't take you more than an afternoon to breeze through the story. The setting: a mystery set in an exclusive spa (a place with, admittedly, plenty of ways to kill someone).

One thing you *shouldn't* expect is to read this as a "sampler" of the writing of each of these authors. They do a remarkably good job of writing in one single voice, which is a good thing for this story. So if you want to branch out into new-to-you authors you'd be better with a book like Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy.

But you should enjoy this as a fun romp, good frothy stuff for when you simply do NOT want anything serious.

Sometimes, when a book has been in my TBR pile for a long time, I kick myself for waiting so long to read it. I've had Naked Came the Phoenix for 5 years, and as far as I'm concerned, I might as well have left it in the TBR pile for another 5.

Naked Came the Phoenix is a serial novel--each author writes one chapter, building on what went before, but without collaborating with the other authors. Reading the book with that in mind is the only way to enjoy it. It starts out with senator's wife Caroline Blessing and her ambitious mother going to a spa owned by an old acquaintance of her mother's. The spa is populated with a variety of the rich and famous--an aging rock star, a young supermodel and her manager, a famous movie star, etc. Then the owner of the spa is killed, and in true Agatha Christie fashion, it seems everyone has a potential motive.

I'd been warned that the story started slow, then picked up with the second chapter, written by J. D. Robb. I took this with a grain of salt, since it came from Nora fans, but found it to be absolutely true. The first chapter was excruciatingly dull. The second chapter was, indeed, more lively, and the characters developed actual personalities. But that faded away, as subsequent chapters focused more on introducing new plot twists and all too often either ignoring or contradicting what happened in previous chapters.

As a mystery, it falls flat because of the contradictions--for example, several characters' ages seemed to change from chapter to chapter, a real problem because age was a clue to one of the mystery threads. Another one was the disposition of the spa--in one chapter, a character had purchased enough shares in the company to be the owner anyway, and in the next chapter, it became a matter of inheritance instead.

But what was fun was looking at it from outside the story, imagining the authors rubbing their hands in glee, saying "let's see what you do with this!" while scrambling to deal with the twists the previous authors had handed them.

I bought Naked Came the Phoenix as soon as it came out, because I'm a fan of two of the authors: J. D. Robb and Diana Gabaldon. I've since become a fan of Laurie R. King as well, so I'd had, if not high hopes for the book, at least higher hopes. Still, it completes three author's collections (I'm pretty sure I have all of King's books--the paperbacks, at least), and the purchase did benefit breast cancer research, so I'm not sorry I bought it.