All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon

Becca is reeling from the soul crushing deception of her husband’s betrayal.

Desperate to earn his wife’s forgiveness, Blake plans a surprise weekend at a country estate in The Catskills.

The theme is a Roaring Twenties Murder Mystery.
Becca’s pastime is burying herself in the trail of each clue. Its a welcome distraction from her life.

After a rocky start to the weekend, she had no idea what she was getting into, Becca starts to relax and get into the carefree spirit of the Jazz Era.

Soon, Becca finds herself struggling to separate fact from fiction. When an actor/employee fails to show up for work, the hushed whispers of the staff allude to her ditching work. Is she really irresponsible? Or did something happen?

Pros:
I loved the idea of the theme. They had all the diverse characters that made you wonder “what if it was them?” and the swanky old estate sounded perfect for the setting as well.

The mystery plot was a good storyline, although the performances were a bit cheesy.

Cons:
The story jumped around too much between the character each person was playing and their real life persona. The back and forth was a lot of work to follow.

If only Becca could get out of her head long enough for something other than her anger and insecurities, this story might have gone somewhere.

If there had been less time focusing on the infidelity, it would have been much more engaging.

Thank you @netgalley
@Randomhouse

I enjoyed the description of this book and I do like a good "who dun it", but this book seemed more about a troubled marriage. Half way through I found myself disliking the characters and not really caring how the book ended.
Needless to say it was not what I was planning to read and had the description been a bit different or more detailed i would not have selected this book.

It will appeal to those who like stories of cheating spouses and spouses who seek revenge.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced e-book of this title in exchange for my honest views. All views are my own

I liked the premise of All Dressed Up & was quickly drawn in, but for some reason I had a hard time sticking with it. Still, I am glad I finished!

The premise of this had a lot of potential, along with the Catskill mansion setting, I had high hopes. I am all for unsympathetic characters as long as they're interesting.. but these were not. Unfortunately had to DNF at 32%.

ALL DRESSED UP by Jilly Gagnon
Publication: 09/6/2022 by Random House Publishing / Ballantine


Enter the world of a classic Whodunit mystery with the motif of an expensive weekend getaway murder mystery in the Catskills. Becca Wilson’s marriage is on shaky grounds after husband, Blake has an affair. As sort of an apology he arranges this unique diversion of a weekend getaway with a Roaring Twenties theme. They’ve even been assigned roles to play …
Becca will be the ingenue Debbie Taunts, while Blake be Reid Dailey, a newspaper heir. Three other couples take part in the skullduggery . The speakeasy songstress Ida Croonner is found murdered and they will need to solve the mystery with the aid of pun laden clues. The action takes place over a grueling forty-eight hour interval.
Ida’s flaky maid disappears unxpectedly, Becca is sure that this is not a planned part of the weekend. Has a real murder occurred? Many red herrings are woven into the fabric of the mystery. There will be much reflection on the disintegration of a marriage. Will this diversion succeed in saving a marriage after infidelity? Becca’s cynical first person narration proves to be a highlight in the development of plot and motivation. The myriad of characters makes it somewhat difficult to ascertain their level of involvement in the murder and the mystery weekend, As the truths and red herring are separated the unexpected denouement unfolds, to a partial conclusion. Unfortunately the plot and storyline falls somewhat flat … but regardless it is still a fun read. I would have to grade this with three stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for supplying an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Could not get into this book. Although the premise sounds interesting this one was a DNF for me, I did try listening to the audiobook from the library as well. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review it - this one just wasn't for me.

Rating: 2/5 Stars

A swanky hotel. A game of murder mystery. Everyone has a role to play in Jilly Gagnon’s All Dressed Up. When a woman disappears from the hotel Becca and her husband Blake are staying at, Becca begins to think that the fictitious murder mystery is not the only problem she is trying to solve.

There was a lot going on with this one - and it was hard to follow the plot at times. Part murder mystery - part adultering husband, I was torn between the genre of this novel and what we were really reading about and had a hard time reading this one to completion.

Thanks to Net Galley, RHPG - Ballantine Books, and Jilly Gagnon for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Read if you like:

+ You’re a fan of Clue
+ Murder Mysteries are your thing
+ You enjoyed Knives Out or Death on the Nile

This book had some potential but it just didnt hit the mark for me. Most of the reviews on this are spot on, messy plot, annoying characters. I was hoping this would be a great story since I do love mysteries but unfortunately it wasnt the best.

Sorry but this one was a big disappointment for me.
I just didn’t like it. I read a bit over half before finally giving up.

Thank you for this ARC.

A murder mystery weekend that devolves into an actual murder mystery seems a little too on-the-nose, but the author does a great job pulling it off. Every clue was a surprise!

I kept putting reading this book off as I was told by readers that I generally agree with that the plot was a mess and the main character were annoying. I must agree on both counts. The MC spends so much time thinking and stressing about her marriage in a highly repetitive fashion that either mystery fades entirely to the background, and really, I could care less by the end. I was hoping for some clever ending since the obvious to the “real” mystery, as the obvious choice just seemed too cliché but nope, it really was the ending. The side characters felt flat, and some of this could be accounted to the plot device of it being a mystery plot weekend, but even “out of character,” most of them had little to distinguish them. Finally, for the author to spend that much time on the marriage, I, as a reader, need to feel why it matters that they don’t just get a divorce and move on in life and I never cared. I gave it two stars for attempting a clever plot of a murder in a fake murder mystery but otherwise, not enjoyable and a slog to finish.

I was cautious picking up this book after having read so many average reviews, so perhaps it was just that my expectations were low but I truly enjoyed every second of this novel. I absolutely TORE through it and couldn't believe the actual culprit by the end of the book. I did feel like there were some unnecessary aspects that kind of took away from the narrative, but all in all, I thought this book was well-paced and unique while still drawing inspiration from some of the great murder mystery writers of all time, a la Agatha Christie.

I think the only thing that might've made this book better was if we got to read the story from the perspectives of a few characters, somewhat in the vein of Lucy Foley. There was quite a bit of unnecessary crypticism that might have been resolved had we been able to understand the motivations and perspectives of any other character. Overall, however, I loved this book and can't wait to read more by this author!

Really enjoyed the concept of this story. The mystery had me hooked but didn’t really enjoy how the characters were written!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Murder mystery themed weekend at a remote gothic mansion where there is a real murder, but what is part of the script and what is real? And what is part of the character and what is the role they are playing for the weekend? Do we even trust the narrator?

Date is made up. I feel behind on reviews.

The weekend murder mystery getaway at the manor hotel should have been perfect. But Becca is freshly smarting from her husband Blake's betrayal. She's not sure she can forgive her husband and may not want to. How will she get into the spirit of the game? Plus, all the guests are not who they appear to be, which adds confusion to the weekend. Even weirder, Becca discovers a missing actress and wonders if there is indeed a real murder to solve.
I think I would have liked the story about the murder mystery weekend if the book solely dealt with that. But adding the real murder confused things. I wasn't sure what was play versus what was real.
Also, I didn't care for the profanity or the sexual content. It made the book feel slutty.
Becca's forgiveness of her husband turns quickly, too, thanks mostly to another guest hitting on her. Essentially, she uses her sexual desires and fantasies to get over her husband's affair. That's very unrealistic and not sustainable for the relationship in the long run. I finished the book not rooting for any of the characters to succeed except the murdered actress.

The story takes place on a gorgeous estate, that is set up for an elaborate murder mystery theme, that Blake had arranged for a weekend of spending time with his wife Becca as a way to make up for their marital troubles.

The characters in the story have their own part to play within the game and thank you Jilly Gagnon for a nice list provided for the readers to keep track of the characters. I enjoyed the writing, the red herrings, and the overall style of the story.

Becca and Blake are spending a weekend at a resort that is having a 1920s murder mystery game. Becca and Blake have had some issues and this is his attempt to make up for it. Soon they are drawn into a real life murder mystery when one of the actresses goes missing.
This was a very fast paced read. It takes place over a weekend. I liked the theme of the murder mystery and the clues interwoven into the real mystery of what was going on at the hotel. It almost reminds me of a game of Clue or something similar to that. It took me a while to catch on to who was who because all the characters have their actual name and then the character name they were playing for the weekend. Once you sort that out, it’s a very fun read.
Thank you to the publisher in NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Cool idea, poor execution. We spent a lot of time in our MC head circling thoughts of her idiot husband. I wanted more (and more believable) mystery and less soap opera drama/love story.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

A huge thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A murder mystery that went horrifically wrong. this book gave me the vibes of an Agatha Christie books but less of a cozy mystery and more of a thriller. Overall this was a good book, there was some aspects that fell flat for me in terms of character building but this is a solid read overall!

First still obsessed with the cover. This was such a fun murder mystery. Thank you to Random House for the advanced copy