The return of the serialized novel has been trumpeted before (notably by this very blog), and James Patterson made headlines recently with his chain thriller, Airborne. But The Los Angeles Times has combined the two.

Yesterday, the L.A. Times published the first chapter of Money Walks, an “experiment in serial storytelling” that will grow by one chapter per day, Monday through Saturday, until April 24. The opening, written by L.A. Times reporter Mary McNamara, begins with a genuinely intriguing premise:

Although the Rev. Franco Laguna had spent years preaching the spiritual pitfalls of equating riches with value, he was strangely unprepared to learn that the money was gone.

“What money?” he said, blinking into the dusty morning light that slipped through the Venetian blind across from his desk and directly into his eyes.

“The money,” the church treasurer repeated, with a rising note of exasperation. Maureen was a perilously efficient woman of 43 who had five children; organized exasperation was her default setting. “The church money.”

“Well, which part of the church money?” the priest asked patiently.

“All of it.”

Unlike Airborne, Money Walks will be written by established members of L.A.’s fiction community. This Quillblogger wishes them luck “ and looks forward to finding out what happens next.