Outside of a Dog: Kate Nepveu's Book Log

I borrowed Naked Came the Phoenix, edited by Marcia Talley, mostly on a whim. It's a serial novel, à la The Floating Admiral, by a group of female mystery writers; a portion of the proceeds go to breast cancer research.

One of the authors, Diana Gabaldon, mentioned it on her web page, and since the library had it, I thought it was worth a try. The pleasure in reading a serial novel is watching one author leave a bombshell at the end of her chapter for the next to deal with, and seeing how the next person turns the bombshell into her own. I don't read chapter-by-chapter, though: I usually plow straight ahead, barely noticing divisions like chapters, to find out what happens next. Judged that way, this is pretty goofy (as I suspect many such efforts are). Judged as a serial novel . . . well, it's still pretty goofy.