I made a big mistake and took a months-long break between the 1st book (Killing Mr. Watson) and books 2 and 3, which may have unfairly taken away from my experience of book 2 (Lost Man's River), which was (often) refresher for me. That said, I enjoyed the heck out of 1 and 3 (Bone by Bone, far and away my favorite).

I wondered, as I went through, how the books might have felt arranged backwards -- as it stands, we sort of go outwards-in, seeing Watson's death again and again at a decreasing distance, and by the time we reach the level of Watson himself we've already answered a lot of our own questions. How would it have felt the other way around?