I've always been intrigued by the idea of a murder mystery dinner, or a weekend. But probably not intrigued enough to actually go on one. And Becca, our heroine in All Dressed Up, probably wouldn't have signed up for it either. Her husband, Blake, has wisked her away for a romantic weekend to make up for the fact that he cheated on her with his young, gorgeous, coworker. Of course, he somehow neglected to tell her that their somewhat dysfunctional friends will be there and it's a murder mystery weekend. Fun, right?

Imagine her surprise, when someone dies on the first night at the cocktail party. And then imagine how pleased she is to find out that it's all fictional and part of the mystery. Regardless, she decides to play along. But just as that happens, a real life mystery begins to unfold, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.

I really enjoyed this book. The murder mystery aspect was a lot of fun and drew me in. The characters were richly drawn and believable. And I even felt like I understand the dynamics behind Blake and Becca. My one complaint was that I felt like it was a little bit of a Scooby Doo ending. Just me? I'm curious as to what others thought.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now.

Thank you Random House for my copy of this book. A potential real murder in a murder mystery game had so much potential and unfortunately, i just felt like the payoff never really came through. There were a lot of interesting story lines that, for me, didn't gel together super successfully, and the boo ended up being pretty disappointing.

✰✰✰.75
Jilly Gagnon has concocted an amusingly clever murder mystery, set at a remote hotel with a 1920s theme. It sounded like a hoot so I was eager to read this one. The author definitely kept me entertained and surprised. My only objection was the distraction of so much drama between Becca and Blake. They could have been such a super fun couple that added zest instead of drama! Separately, they were. This fun story had plenty of potential. A little change in the script could reveal new possibilities!

“Welcome to the Crooner Estate
We know your stay will be deadly fun.”

Each guest is provided a dossier and cast as a “player” in the game. I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of all the characters, especially when everyone was using two personas.

A schedule breaks the weekend down into several rounds. Clues and information is collected by the players and shared at the end of each round. In the final round, each guest names their murder suspect. The murderer could be you! How fun!

“One of you is guilty of a murder . . . but who? The only way to find out is to work with your fellow guests (and suspects) to solve the mystery.”

“You’ll need to keep a close eye on your fellow guests if you want to find the killer . . .”

Follow the clues and watch everyone!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Jilly Gagnon for providing this gifted ARC through NetGalley. I’d also like to thank Yewon Son of Random House Publishing for reaching out to introduce me to this book! All opinions are my own.

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Jilly Gagnon’s All Dressed Up has a great premise. Husband Blake surprises his lovely wife Becca with a murder mystery weekend to make up for his prior infidelity. There is a “murder mystery” where other characters are supposed to solve whodunnit. Once there Becca begins to suspects that an employee of the hotel has actually been murdered. At this point, the book begins to focuses on her efforts to solve the murder. The book also asks the REAL question: are the people playing beyond their characters. I really did enjoy the premise, but found that the book was frequently difficult to follow as the author did not spend much time on her character development, which unfortunately caused the plot to drag in spots. But, all in all, a good solid murder mystery.

The cover really pulled me in with this one. I thought it was okay but I wasn’t totally sold. Becca was an emotional wreck and I didn’t love her. The concept is strong but the execution needed more flare. I would read her again though!

3.5⭐

Featuring ~ single 1st person POV with game host commentary (? if that's what you'd call it?), infidelity references, murder mystery

Blake has whisked Becca away for a murder mystery themed weekend. He's hoping to get back in her good graces due to feeling guilty for cheating on her. When one of the actresses goes missing Becca gets her amateur sleuthing on and tries to find out what happened to her. I didn't mind this part of the story and how that all played out.

As much as I'd hoped this would be mostly about the game there was really more emphasis on their relationship, so that puts this more on the cozy mystery side. I am more of a thriller reader, so that made my interest wane a bit. Also, there were a lot of names to keep track of since all the characters had a different name for the game, plus all the actors/actresses.

I was able to listen to a final version as well. Narrated by Christine Lakin and David DeSantos for 10 hours and 39 minutes. Christine did a fine job. David had an animated voice that was fun to listen to.

Although this was on the okay side I'd still give this author another shot.

Short synopsis: Becca and Blake travel for a weekend away to a beautiful mansion in the Catskills. When a theatrical murder mystery seems all to real Becca begins to question if the actress is really dead.

My thoughts: Loved the idea of the setting, but there was just too much going on with too many characters. I really struggled to connect with them.

Read if you love:
- Cozy mysteries
- Weekend getaway gone wrong
- 1920 mansions
- Murder mystery

Thank you to Jilly, Bantam Books, and Netgalley for an advance copy of All Dressed Up.

Becca is working hard to move past her husband Blake’s infidelity. She’s struggling a lot with coming to terms with it, but she’s not going to say no to some bribery in the form of a weekend getaway at a lavish estate complete with a murder mystery party that runs from arrival to departure. Everything is off to a swinging start, but when one of the actors turns up missing, it’s hard to tell what is a game and what is reality.

This was fun, almost like a locked room mystery within a locked room mystery. It was clever to put the characters into a situation where role playing was the norm to add a layer of difficulty to pining down what, if anything, had gone wrong and who could be behind it. The setting was unique and made it an appealing book to pick up.

I feel like the pace was a little slower than it should’ve been; we had a lot of down time without much plot or character building that left me feeling a little bored at times. I would have loved to have known the characters a little better, especially the side characters. Becca wasn’t very likable, but I will chalk that up to a character who is going through a major life event and trying to convince themselves that they are okay and everything is fine. If you’ve ever been a friend to someone in this situation, you can attest to how exhausting this can be, even though it is a natural part of accepting, coping, and moving forward. However, I don’t have a strong attachment to Becca as a person or character, so I became increasingly annoyed with the inner dialogue surrounding the affair. At times it felt like the actual mystery became the supporting act, when it should’ve been the star.

A little more reworking of the drafts of this novel could’ve easily sent it from 3 to 4.5/5 stars for me.

Modern take on the classic locked room mystery. When Blake surprises his wife, Becca, with a murder mystery weekend, the mystery becomes entwined with an actual mystery when one of the players goes missing. What is real and what is part of the game. With all of the guests and actors in costume it is even more difficult to tell what is going on.

While a good story, parts felt flat to me and was just hard to follow. At times I think too much was going on.

Husband and wife, Blake and Becca, are going through a rough patch. Becca recently found out that Blake was having an affair with a co-worker, though they are trying to work through it. In an attempt at an olive branch, Blake decides to surprise Becca with a weekend away upstate for a murder-mystery themed stay. A few miscommunications cause things to be tense with Blake and Becca throughout the story. This is a bit of a muddled up game of Clue, but not funny like the movie. The main character, for me, was weak and unlikable; because the guests were role-playing they all had two names that were not used consistently, there were little side stories going on that had nothing to do with either the mystery weekend or the actual murder, but -worst of all for me - there was no dead body or indication that there really would be one until the very last pages of the book. The character development was lacking and the story itself could have used better editing.

Thank you to Bantam and NetGalley

I never got the point of this story. So much potential - A murder mystery weekend in a mansion. A very disagreeable and unhappy woman, with a husband trying to make up for a dalliance that was just not about to be forgotten or forgiven. Very unlikeable characters, with a confusing scenario - was it a murder? Was it a mystery? Was it a play within a play? I read to the end and keep wondering why.

Thank you Bantam Books and NetGalley for a copy

I like how the story is constructed around a fantasy weekend with all the guests trying to solve a mystery.

Okay so, give me a murder mystery themed anything and I am all for it. Unfortunately this one fell flat for me. I thought the premise was ingenious but there was so much happening off to the side that felt unnecessary and detracted from the story leading me to not finishing it before I got to the halfway point.

A murder mystery sign me up!!! only it wasn't as good as I was expecting it. You meet Becca and Blake who arrive for a weekend for a 1920s murder mystery event in an attempt to save their marriage. Becca starts to doubt what is real and what's a part of the game... I really wanted to like this, but honestly I couldn't get into it. I tried to start this book on 3 different occasions and finally forced myself to sit down and get on with it.

What urked me the most was the one POV the entire time and Becca's personality. She complained the entire time and I was annoyed with her as the main character. I would not have minded if there was maybe one other POV to make the story a bit more eventful and interesting. I felt as if the entire book revolved around Becca's marital problems rather than the PLOT of the dang story!! I swear every chapter she was criticizing her husband (which don't get me wrong what he did was TERRIBLE), but I can only take so much of her complaints. I was tempted to DNF, but pushed through to the end.

Sadly, I won't be recommending to anyone because I struggled to get through. However YOU could like it!! The ending was a nice conclusion and I didn't see it coming, but it wasn't enough of an UMPH to make the book enjoyable.

I was thrilled to receive this gifted copy for review. I’ve always been a huge murder mystery fan and it’s my dream to attend a weekend getaway with a clue inspired theme.
I enjoyed this book because the plot was so much fun; however, the characters were hard to follow.
The author does break down the list of casts and characters for you at the beginning; however, I’m not one for needing to flip back and forth trying to remember who’s who. Plus the MC Becca, was a mental wreck from her husband’s infidelity, her character didn’t grow nor did I find out more about her.
I need more character details from the main characters and not only a cast full of unknown characters held together by thoughts of a person on a breakdown.

All in all, if you enjoy Clue and aren’t fickle about depth of character., this book of for you. I however think this would make an excellent movie.

When I read the plot for All Dressed Up, I was immediately intrigued- a mystery that takes place during an immersive 1920s-themed murder mystery. I couldn’t hit that accept button fast enough. I was looking forward to reading bad puns (and yes, there were plenty) and solving the actress’s disappearance. But, this book fell short of my expectations. Not to say I didn’t like it (I did), but it was the characters (mainly Becca) who made me “meh” about this book. Everything else was perfect.

All Dressed Up did have an enjoyable and exciting plotline. The story centers around Becca and her husband, Blake. Blake had arranged a weekend getaway to an immersive murder mystery. But Becca isn’t exactly thrilled about it. Blake and herself are going through a rough patch in their marriage, and she is still furious about what happened. But once there, the magic of the mansion and the mystery draw her in. But, a real-life mystery draws her in when one of the actresses goes missing. Becca is determined to find out what happened to her. But is she getting in over her head? Can Becca solve the fictional murder mystery as well as the real-life one? And, while she’s at it, can she forgive her husband for what he did?

All Dressed Up is a fast-paced mystery that takes place on in a mansion somewhere in New York state. I didn’t catch the town’s name (or there wasn’t one). But with the talk of New York City and going upstate, I figured it was in New York.

The characters are the main reason I was “meh” about All Dressed Up. Individually, they all got on my nerves, and together, that nerve was stretched to the max. I will not discuss each character. I will focus on the main ones, Becca and Blake.

Becca: I had mixed feelings about Becca. On the one hand, she was a great detective (both in and out of character). She genuinely cared about the missing maid. But her detective work bordered on obsessive. However, she was awful to Blake. Yes, I get that he cheated on her, and I understood her behavior for the first 25% of the book. But every overture he made, be it doing something she liked and that made him uncomfortable, she was awful to him about. She was mean and spiteful, which didn’t gel with me.
Blake: Out of all the characters, I did like him the best. He acknowledged and owned that he screwed up badly. He was willing to do whatever it took to work on his marriage. But there is a line between constantly apologizing for one thing and taking the brunt of Becca’s anger for everything. Becca crossed that line before the book started.
As I mentioned above, the secondary characters got on my nerves as much as the main ones. But, they did add extra depth to the plotline and did provide a few red herrings to the mystery.

All Dressed Up fit perfectly into the mystery and suspense genres. The author did a fantastic job of keeping me guessing who the killer was in the game and why the maid went missing. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, several red herrings were thrown out by the secondary characters.

The author wrote the main storyline well with Becca, the other guests, and the fake mystery. I loved the puns (even if they were groan-worthy at times). I also really liked how the people running the show made the guests work for the clues. Because, on my end, I am also trying to figure out who the killer was. I made notes, and it wasn’t who I thought it was.

The other storyline was well written, with Becca investigating the actress/maid’s disappearance. The author did keep me guessing about what happened to her. I did figure out what happened by the middle of the book, but I didn’t expect who. Talk about a big twist in the plot there. A “no freaking way” was thrown out when it was revealed. And the reason this person did it was heartbreaking.

The end of All Dressed Up was typical of the genre. I liked how the author revealed who the killer was in the fake mystery, why the maid disappeared, and who was behind it. As I mentioned above, it was a twist that I didn’t see coming. Also, what I didn’t see coming was something to do with Becca and Blake. I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but it did tie up that storyline.

Three Reasons You Should Read All Dressed Up:

The murder mystery storyline.
The puns. As bad as they were, I was dying laughing when they came up.
The twist at the end of the book. I didn’t see that coming..
Three Reasons You Shouldn’t Read All Dressed Up:

Becca. I felt terrible for her, but I couldn’t stand her.
Blake. I explained why above.
The other characters. They got on my nerves.
I would recommend All Dressed Up to anyone over 16. There is no sex, mild language, and mild to moderate violence.

This had a great premise and I was intrigued to read it. However the execution was not what I was expecting and I thought it fell flat. It went on longer than I thought, e.g., should have taken place over an evening rather than dragging on over the weekend, and with the players coming in and out of character it got a little too confusing. When all was revealed I was ok with the ending, however had it been over the course of an evening I think this would have been a little tighter and flowed better. I don’t have to like the characters for thrillers, and these are definitely not likable, but this one just didn’t live up to what I was expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the digital galley to review.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but the marriage mess was distracting from the rest of the stories. I think it was trying to take too much on all at once. Becca is an emotional mess, with good reason, but being in her head while she's trying to solve a couple of mysteries and her marriage issues was just too much. If we nixed all of her personal issues, this would have been a solid read; the premise is intriguing and the details were good.

WOW!! When I started to read this book I could not put it down. If you love murder mystery dinners, being surrounded by people you don't know, and having to be in uncomfortable situations with other people you will totally love this book.

I loved the plot but just could not engage with Becca. She was too much of a drama Queen. The setting and atmosphere were great though.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest feedback.