Naked Came the Phoenix: A Serial Novel
Product Type: Book
Product Price: $24.95
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
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Description
The promise of discretion and pampering-and a long-overdue reconciliation with her mother-draws Caroline Blessing, the young wife of a newly-elected Congressman, to the fancy Phoenix Spa. But after her first night in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, Caroline wakes to find the rich and famous guests in turmoil and under suspicion: the spa's flamboyant and ambitious owner has been murdered. As the secrets come out-and the body count rises, can Caroline keep herself from becoming the next victim?In the tradition of such collaborative classics as Naken Came the Manatee and The Floating Admiral, each chapter in this serial novel is written by one of today's most talented mystery novelists.
Reviews
Rating: 1 / 5
Date: 2010-03-09
Summary: "Not My Cup of Tea"
Read another book one time that was similar to this in that a group of authors wrote the book, each one writing a chapter. It was disjointed at times, just like this one and was not as good as any one of the many authors could have written.
Unfortunately this is also true of this book. Don't think I will read another book that is written by a group of authors in this manner.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2008-12-01
Summary: "fun to imagine the authors writing this"
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.
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2007-07-24
Summary: "It was OK --- a little disappointing"
I enjoyed the book, but the last chapter was kind of a dumping ground for everything. Somehow the author of the last chapter threw it all together to end the story --- but it was a mish mosh that I didn't follow very well. I read it because a couple of my favorite writers were in the "pack" --- Mary Jane Clark, particularly. The last chapter was too long and just a mess, in my opinion.
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2007-06-01
Summary: "Kind of torn! A 3.5 if pushed."
I'm kind of torn when it comes to this novel by some great, female, suspense writers. First, it had everything that it needed to be great (JD Robb being one of them, and one of my favorites)...meaning wonderful, talented writers and a decent plot. But what it lacked was some details that I thought would have made it great (because there were several writers, who although great, wrote from their perspective, so when the murderer is finally revealed, it seems kind of off). The ending seemed, in my opinion, rushed.
The plot was good, murder at the spa. Caroline, a newly married woman (to a Congressman no doubt) has come to Phoenix Spa (a spa for the wealthy) to bond with her mother, Hilda (a cold and calculating character). While at the spa, she meets a number of highly influential and famous guests, among them a top fashion model and her agent; an old rock star, King David; a has-been producer; an actress; a psychic to the stars, and a sexy pool boy who isn't what he seems. They have all been invited to the spa and the owner, Claudia has been murdered. They are all suspects because it turns out that they all had motive, which is of course linked to blackmail and betrayal. As the story is told (each chapter by a different writer) the plots and subplots are exposed. By the end of the novel, I was kind of tired of the main character, Caroline and her plight, because her character was not as developed as I think it would have been had just one writer written it. You no longer cared that she was an ex-celloist, who felt betrayed by her cheating husband (or is he a cheater but someone trying to keep his secrets from his wife), and frankly you were tired of her whining. I wanted so badly for her to be involved in solving the mystery, but she wasn't. She was merely a character who was always around to see or hear things, but never really got involved. And even the detective, who I loved and some writers must have loved him also, was throughout the book, and yet at the end, he fell flat.
I definately would suggest that you read this novel, but was it a 5, no...but if you love the writers who were invovled in writing the book, you won't want to miss out of it. At least check it out at the local library.
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2006-08-09
Summary: "Incipt Vita Nova: Spa motto"
The Phonenix, contrary to the one located on Gay Street, is an upscale spa for the rich and famous. The scene of five murders, this time the characters are all interrelated, which is uncovered in the final chapter. It was all rather convoluted, being the artistic endeavors of thirteen prominent writers, each for one chapter. This is the result of a project to copy the serial novels of the Thirties in which Agatha Cristie was involved. In 'Agatha,' the movie, she was incognito "shadowing" her nemesis in a steam room in England about the same time she was writing such (living a dream). Our Phoenix building downtown has been renovated into high priced condos for strange folks who moved here and think it is novel to live on the main street of this town. No Spa there, however, you have to go to Powell to the Fitness Center to find the hot tub and steam room.
The Phoenix in this story in segments is a place of myster with drugs, adoptions, murders all involved until the Chapter 13 which explains all in detail to the survivors who are all family, interrelated in a weird way. "A family, rising phoenixlike from the ashes." Caroline thanked God for bringint this man into her life; Tennessee congressman Doug Blessing with some secrets of his own. She hadd not "forced her way to freedom" because of an anticipated "need for Doug's more delicate plumbing." This written by a mystery writer as opposed to a romance novelist who would be more explicit. Just a slightly different way of phrasing, which I always used in the book reviews I gave to the literary club -- it was fun to confuse those who weren't napping. The Phoenix had a mud room with its own secret stash.
Some of the gathering of strong personalities include the beautiful made model (Adonis), the kinky actress, the green-haired rock star who went through N.A., the detective Toscana who sometimes acted like God ("and Toscana saw that it was good."), Dante, t he masseur, and Geoff, the assitant pastry chef. The sociopathic personality responsible for the deaths had no conscience, and was evil with no sense of honor. Knowledge was her weapon. A person can only ask, to be granted a wish for anything.
Led by Nevada Barr based this confusing story showing how a character can be killed in a spa. I review another book wherin the pivotal chatacter was killed in the steam room of the notel spa shortly before his scheduled assignation with the main person. So, this premise is nothing new, nor the format. What is different is t he freedom of each of these authors to develop their own characters and circumstances leading to the next sequence of unusual, never-thought-of-before things a client could do at this exclusive Phoenix Spa. This serial format started in 1931 with 'The Floating Admiral' which was serialized in England. Marcia Talley, editor, discovers a link with that first collaboration and declares, "We have come full circle."
Two more recent such workings are 'Naked Came the Stranger ' (1969) by "Newsday" and 'Naked Came the Manatee' serialized in the "Miami Herald."