Becca’s husband, Blake, has surprised her with a weekend away to a remote mansion for a murder mystery whodunit. In the foreground of what is happening at the mansion, Becca can’t stop rehashing Blake’s infidelity. Instead of doing something about it, she uses the murder mystery to distract her. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t distract the reader from Becca. Becca is whiny and an unlikable character and her husband even more so. The writing didn’t draw me in and it took a while to finish the book. I couldn’t get behind any of the characters and thought the plot lost focus in the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for the eARC. This book comes out today.

If Clue was more melodramatic relationship drama and less zany humor, you get All Dressed Up. This is a cozy murder mystery that reads like a hot cider on a cold night with nothing to watch on TV. There were no real stakes (up until the end), which meant that much of Becca's conflict lay with learning how to move on from her husband's infidelity. The drama gets a bit silly at times, and Becca teeters between earnest heroine and whiny baby.

Luckily for Gagnon, I'm a sucker for kitschy romances disguised as genre books, and I found myself enjoying it against my will. 3.5/5

This was cute, but predictable. I caught on to a lot of the twists early on. I think it is because i read so many mystery and thrillers. I don’t think this was meant to be a cozy, but it felt that way to me. And just because i was able to predict the storyline, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. I enjoyed Becca and the rest of the guests. This was a solid cozy read for me, and i admit had me googling for murder mystery weekends. .

All Dressed Up centers around a murder mystery weekend getaway.

Blake has surprised his wife with a getaway weekend that she knows nothing about. Blake has a lot to make up for and is hoping this weekend will help fix his marriage.

Becca is trying to forgive Blake for his betrayal, but is struggling to trust him not to betray her again.

When the weekend is just beginning and the "body" is found, poor Becca did not know this was a murder mystery and thought the body was real. She thought it was just a 1920's themed weekend.

Even though she was caught off guard, and the acting of the players is horrible, Becca tries to make the best of it. When one of the actors goes missing. Becca is focusing more on that than on the mystery weekend theme.

All the guests are given names and backgrounds to play. It was confusing at times who was who because their real and fictional names were used off and on.

A little too much of Becca's thoughts and fears tainted the book for me. We got the point early on that she angry and betrayed. I found I didn't care who was involved in the murder mystery aspect of the story. Just too much side talk of their marriage distracted from it. I did care more about what happened to the missing waitress/actress and her real life disappearance.

Thanks to netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the arc

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars

An elaborate murder mystery themed getaway goes horribly wrong when a real body is found. Told over 48 hours, guests at a famous hotel are forced into a real-life whodunit.

This was a fun spin on a classic storyline. With the year being full of Agatha Christie-esque thrillers, this may end up getting slightly lost in the shuffle. I loved the flapper theme and the writing style. Overall, a solid thriller.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm completely unsure about this one. I both enjoyed it and forgot almost everything about it as soon as I finished, so I have no idea what to say in regard to it.
The setting is interesting, with a locked room mystery taking place within a themed murder mystery night that gets extra emotional when leading lady Becca arrives already emotionally keyed up and ready to explode despite her best efforts.
Gagnon does a good job at keeping the reader as in doubt as Becca by constantly introducing new elements to the story that could as easily be related to Becca's serious suspicions as to the weekend's theme. The crazy cast of characters intent on also keeping secrets adds to the element of confusion that makes the story interesting.
Unfortunately, the very well-executed subplot of the difficulty of relationships and the hard choices one needs to make in order for them to work tends to drag the story to depressing levels. A sign of good writing and realism, but not a good thing when you're reading for the pleasure of a good mystery.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the early read!

All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon is a reasonably interesting locked room murder mystery that is overlaid by a domestic drama. Becca and Blake are a troubled couple who attend a mystery weekend at a lavish country estate. The guests are “all dressed up” in1920’s cocktail attire, as they experience the shocking death of jazz singer Ida Crooner. They are then tasked with figuring out who is the killer in their midst.
The marital woes of Becca and Blake unfortunately overshadow what could be a cleverly plotted whodunit. Becca’s hurt at Blake’s betrayal of her, by having an affair with his coworker, is legitimate. But her constant ruminations about this hurt and distrust are intrusive to the flow of the story and distract from the action and suspense. Becca’s obsessive thoughts make her, to this reader, seem tiresome, repetitive and whiny, rather than allowing her character to shine as a smart, capable young lady.
A definite plus is the author’s writing style, which feels fresh and modern. Her descriptive writing and careful plotting make for a decent Jazz age murder mystery.

Thank you to Bantam Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

was really excited to read this but it turned out to be different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be like a thrilling whodunit. It turned out to be more of a cozy mystery which I am not a fan of. The characters were full of drama that I feel didn’t do anything more than drag the story down.


All Dressed Up is Available September 6,2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Ballentine for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn't love a locked-room mystery in the style of a murder mystery weekend? But All Dressed Up is more than that, and, if you go into it thinking that's what you're getting, you will more than likely be disappointed. There's a lot more story going on in Jilly Gagnon's latest release, and, while Becca is figuring out the who-done-it of the weekend, combined with an actual missing person, she's also figuring out her life. All Dressed Up isn't just a twisty thriller, but there's also an element of what happens when you've been betrayed, and can you get past it. I personally loved the combination, making it more than just a routine popcorn thriller, but actually having some depth and real-life elements.

The premise of this book sounded great - couple in marital crisis goes to a murder mystery weekend at a rural historic house where there’s a suspicious disappearance - but it lacked the follow through. I felt like the constant swapping of real names and bit-player names was so confusing along with trying to keep everyone’s stories straight. There were too many clues but not enough to tie it all together. Loved the premise, but felt like the execution fell flat. And since I was excited about this book on my TBR pile, I was just left disappointed. Hope that the author’s next book has the same great concept but more polish.

Pure delight! How else to describe the mystery wrapped in mystery that is Jilly Gagnon’s All Dressed Up? Blake and Becca’s marriage is still fragile, perhaps permanently damaged by his affair. Desperate to reconcile, he’s planned a surprise - a themed 1920’s murder mystery weekend. After all, Becca loves mysteries. Murder, not so much.

Four couples are the guests, served by a troop of hotel staff and would be professional actors. Each guest is given a weekend persona with hints to provide and facts to hide. Some are more determined than others to stay in character. The first “body” is discovered at the cocktail hour after they arrive. More deaths follow, some planned, some not. It is soon clear that this weekend is not the simple “let’s solve a murder” game that was advertised. In fact, not solving the mystery of this themed event may cost the guests their lives.

The multiple plots of All Dressed Up are seamlessly woven together. Blake and Becca (Reid and Debbie for the weekend) flip between personalities as they argue through their conflicts. But are other guests trying to confuse them - is one a real womanizer of is that part of his role? You’ll keep flipping pages trying to solve this one but it is more complicated than you think. A 5 star gift to the reader.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Jilly Gagnon for this ARC.

A murder mystery getaway turns criminal when someone actually gets murdered… Becca’s husband, Blake, attempts to apologize for his adultry with an expensive mystery-filled weekend. She really can’t get out of her own head but decided to play along to forget her troubles. Beccca is assigned the role of “Debbie Taunte” and along with everyone else, try’s to figure out who “killed” “Ida Crooner”. But when the actres playing Ida’s maid does t show for her role, the game gets serious.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for this e-arc.*

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Becca and Blake have had a rough few months, since Becca accidentally discovered Blake was having an affair with a co-worker. They have been to therapy, both together and singly, and now Blake wants to spend the weekend in the country at a great manor house that has been recommended to him. But he neglects to tell Becca that it is actually a "Murder Mystery Weekend". She has become obsessed with mysteries on TV since their problems began and he thinks she might really enjoy this weekend.

But when the guests "discover" a "dead body", Becca is the only one who reacts, and she soon figures out she is the only one of the eight guests who is not in on the purpose for the weekend. With her nerves already at the breaking point, she does not respond well. The other guests just think she is a superb actress, playing her part to the hilt, but Blake knows he has made a HUGE mistake. But another couple are casual acquaintances and Becca cannot abide letting anyone else know how tenuous their relationship is, so she agrees to continue.

But then one of the maids disappears overnight and Becca can't quite shake the feeling there MAY be more going on than meets the eye.

A good mystery, a good cast of characters and a few surprises. It kept my attention and I did NOT figure it out, so that is a bug plus for me.

This book was.. fine. A fun premise- a weekend murder mystery themed event with several sets of couples coming together to figure out which character among them is the murderer. But then Becca realizes there might be an actual murder that has happened. As I said, fun idea, but Becca is annoying and the entire book is spent in her head. And she can’t get over that her husband cheated on her. Which, fair, but I don’t need her internal dialogue the entire book about it. The secondary characters were interesting. But the pros don’t overcome Becca’s eye roll inducing internal dialogue

Thank you to Ballantine Random House for allowing me to read and engage with All Dressed up by Jilly Gagnon. This is a mystery with a strong premise and excellent potential but for me as a reader is also a book that did not quite live up to the promise of the plot and the delightful cover. This is a fine read, not a bad book or problematic in my take on it, but more a book that lost the focus to me; there was an over focus on the the main character and her understandable feelings and worries and I was looking more for a twisty 1920s mystery weekend read, a little more PBS Mystery and a little less internal drama. That does not make this a bad read but simply one that did not capture me as the focus drew me away from the mystery that I wanted to enjoy. The tone did not match the content and that made reading the book a struggle for me.

This was sadly a DNF for me at nearly 60%. I wanted to stop after only about 15%, but I kept hoping that I would finally enjoy, if I persevered. At the risk of missing a really great ending, I finally had to conclude that struggling through a few pages a day probably meant that the book was not a good fit for me. The prose caught me off guard right from the start (I did not enjoy). The murder mystery weekend theme was cute, but the different names for characters who were anyway not memorable, was confusing instead of cutesy. I lost track of who's who and what exactly was going on; I could not warm to any of the characters, and; I thoroughly disliked the main character, Becca, and her weasel of a husband.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam, for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In the wake of a calamitous betrayal, Blake Wilson plans an expensive getaway in the Catskills for his wife Becca. This weekend is special. Since Becca loves mysteries, he’s booked them for a 1920s-themed murder mystery weekend at Millingham House, an experience available only for eight guests.

Becca has agreed to try to work through their problems, but she is on edge, and finally decides leaning into the game will be the best way to get some relief. Though the pun-heavy script verges on silly and the acting on atrocious, she becomes invested in her character, Miss Debbie Taunte, whose dark past is known by the “victim,” singer Ida Crooner.

But on Day 2, Ida’s maid (a staff member and aspiring actress named Brittany) goes missing. Everyone at Millingham House believes that she left without notice, citing her past irresponsible behavior, but Becca finds clues that convince her otherwise. However, the line between game play and real life becomes difficult to distinguish, especially with the free-flowing cocktails. Becca just might find more than one killer—or become a victim herself.

With the Roaring 20s allusions and game framework organizing the narrative while hiding a modern mystery, ALL DRESSED UP is a fun and unexpected read. As a narrator, Becca offers a good amount of humor and self-reflection, though at times, I felt I wanted less rumination about her marriage woes and more focus on the mystery. She discussed herself as being the life of the party, funny and extroverted, while Blake was likeable in a group but didn’t enjoy such events since he was so introverted. Those traits were not really demonstrated in their behavior, at least over the course of the weekend’s activities.

Beyond being “all dressed up” for the themed weekend, Becca considers how she presents herself according to a script inculcated in her Midwest childhood and how that might be doing a disservice to her and her relationship, especially when she uncovers some unexpected secrets.

The book works best when focusing on the dual mysteries, and I think those who like cozies with a dark streak, like SMILE BEACH MURDER, will enjoy this novel.

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.

With her marriage still recovering from her husband Blake’s betrayal, Becca allows herself to be whisked away to a surprise 1920s-themed weekend at a massive country estate as part of his apology efforts. Once there, she finds out the weekend also has a murder mystery theme - which seems like good fun, until one of the actresses mysteriously actually goes missing, and Becca suspects there’s more to it than the girl suddenly flaking out on her job. Can Becca play her murder-mystery party part, solve an actual murder mystery, and work on her marriage without everything devolving into chaos?

This book has a really interesting set-up, a murder mystery story layered within a murder mystery story. It had the potential to really keep things interesting as they moved along, with the reader embroiled in two mysteries. And the author does a good job of keeping both interesting - I was really drawn into dying to figure out what was gong on in both storylines.

But the problem is, we really didn’t get enough clues to solve either. Everything was kind of mashed together, leaving us with very little insight into either mystery, and leaving nothing but guesses and plenty of possible suspects, since, really, anyone could be a suspect.

But I did keep reading because I indeed did WANT to figure out what happened in the end. And the descriptions of the 1920s decor and the activities from the weekend did make you feel like you were right there participating, even if you didn’t really get too many clues in the end. I always wondered how these “murder mystery weekends” played out and this gave me a really good idea of how they operate. It was fun “being there” without, you know, having to “be there.”

Overall, this was a fun book, but don’t go into it looking for a mystery to solve. Read it for the fun atmosphere and descriptions.

This premise had me excited!! But the overall outcome fell fairly flat for me.

I think Becca’s internal narrative of her husbands affair and “is he cheating again” thoughts really took away from the mystery that i think was supposed to be the main focus of the book.

In All Dressed Up, Becca is surprised to find her husband, Blake, has invited her to a murder mystery weekend in an authentic old mansion. Blake is trying to take Becca’s mind off his fling with his secretary. After all, she did agree to try and make their marriage work. Becca, however, is still tormented by thoughts of his betrayal.

Becca eventually gets into the murder mystery spirit a little too much when she discovers one of the actresses has seemingly disappeared into the night. Can Becca solve the game, resolve the disappearance, and heal her heart by the end of the weekend?

Angsty! Angsty! Angsty! Becca’s constant rehashing of Blake’s affair gets old very quickly. There are no reader findable clues to either mystery so just settle in for a long slog through Becca’s heartbreak. I wanted an Agatha Christie novel and ended up with women’s fiction. All Dressed Up was not a good choice for me but it may be for you. 3 stars.

Thanks to Bantam Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.