I was initially intrigued by the mesmerizing cover of this book, and I was further engaged by the description. What an interesting premise!

However, the actual execution of the plot was lackluster. Multiple names for the characters made it hard to keep track of everyone, and the main character's thoughts were repetitive and overly dramatic. I had hoped for a Clue-like mystery, but the mystery often felt like an afterthought compared to the characters' marital woes.

What a fun mystery! The premise was interesting enough, a Gatsby-themed mystery weekend at a secluded hotel with only 8 guests in attendance, and then on top of that, one of the hotel employees/actresses goes missing. A true mystery within a mystery weekend!

About halfway through the book, I began to wish that I had taken notes from the beginning, as the guests were referred to by both their given names and the characters that they were portraying in the mystery weekend. It was difficult to figure out who was trustworthy, and the clues became blurred between the two mysteries, as was intended. While I did not figure out either of the crimes, I would like to reread the book with notes to see if the clues line up.

The main character, Rebecca, is trying to recover from discovering her husband's affair, and the affair taints their relationship throughout. Other couples at the retreat have their own issues, which become apparent as the weekend unfolds. The portrayal of a spouse's reaction to infidelity is realistic, as it would be difficult to just 'move on' and trust would be difficult to rebuild.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel, and would recommend it to fans of locked room mysteries, or for those who enjoy mystery weekends.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine (Bantam) and Jilly Gagnon for the digital ARC of All Dressed Up. The opinions in this review are my own.

A murder mystery weekend at an old mansion in the Catskills—sign me up! This book was well written with believable twists and would have been a five star read for me if we hadn’t spent so much time in Becca’s head fixating on Blake’s infidelity.

All Dressed Up tackles the murder mystery at an isolated manor theme but doesn’t pull it off.
Becca’s husband is surprising her with a weekend away. He’s looking for forgiveness and she’s trying to move beyond his betrayal. What he hasn’t told her is that it’s a murder mystery themed weekend. As the story unfolds it becomes a mystery within a mystery as one of the actresses goes missing.
But Becca was not a likable main character. She came across as whiny and overly self conscious. Her jealousy was like fingernails on a blackboard for me.
The writing style is cute as the instructions for the murder mystery and dossiers for each of the characters are revealed to the reader at the beginning of most chapters. But the actual plot is simple and too reliant on coincidences (Becca always seems to be at the right place even when it’s improbable.).
This was a little too silly for me. It might work better for folks that like cozy mysteries.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House- Ballantine Books for an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to Negalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the e-arc. This book was just not it for me. I think it had a really good story the murder mystery but I felt it got dragged and then the ending was rushed. Also Becca was all over the place for me it was just too much. It had a good storyline but the outside stories going on were just not it for me.

This book sounded like so much fun - a 1920's themed murder mystery weekend at a fancy estate that turns into a real murder mystery. It seemed like real life Clue, and I was quite excited to read it.

For me, this turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag. As I already said, the premise was good. The characters were interesting, and I liked the way they were all thrown together. I had a bit of trouble keeping track of all of them, but that was because sometimes they were called by their real name, and sometimes by who they were playing for the 1920's weekend.

The part that I was unsure about was the marital tension between Blake and Becca. I understand that it was a big piece of what drove the plot forward, and that Becca had good reason to be so very angry, but I didn't always like the way it was written. At times it felt too distracting from the main plot of the story.

All in all though quite a good book and I'd look forward to reading another by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

ALL DRESSED UP by Jilly Gagnon is a murder mystery with a unique twist. It is set during a murder mystery-themed weekend at a remote Gothic manor house. Becca and Blake are headed to the Catskills for a weekend getaway with a 1920s-style whodunit mystery theme. Blake planned this trip as an apology to Becca for his affair with a coworker. He knows she loves mysteries and he thinks maybe she can find a way to forgive him. Becca is still reeling from Blake’s betrayal, but attempts to get into the spirit of the theatrics. But when one of the actresses disappears after the first night, Becca is afraid something really might have happened to her. As Becca starts trying to put the clues together, she tries to separate the game from what may be a real crime cover-up. Normally I would have loved this whole premise, but so much of the story ended up focused on Becca’s and Blake’s marital drama and what was going on inside Becca’s mind that I lost my interest in the main plot. I didn’t find any of the characters very likable which made it even harder to stay engaged with the story. All-in-all this story had a clever idea as a basis, but it somehow just didn’t work for me. I’m sure there are other readers that enjoy locked-room mysteries that might find it more entertaining than I did. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

This was quite an interesting plot - a mystery in a murder mystery game at a hotel.

Becca and Blake head to the hotel for a weekend getaway, designed to give them a chance to work on their marriage, which had taken a hit due to Blake's recent infidelity. The hotel is running a 1920's themed murder mystery weekend, and Becca and Blake are one of four couples who are to spend the weekend following clues to find the murderer in the game. Becca is surprised to find Blake's work colleague and his wife are amongst the fellow guests.

When an actress playing the part of a hotel maid in the game fails to show up for work, Becca has an uneasy feeling that she isn't missing of her own accord.

I found the plot hard to follow initially, because each of the couples, and all of the hotel employees, all have two sets of names. They all have their real names, used sometimes, and their character names used the rest of the time. With a hotel manager, a butler, a chauffeur, a maid, a gardener and 4 couples, that is a lot of characters to keep track of. We also have their backgrounds in 'real life' and their characters backgrounds to sort through. Once I could keep them all straight, I found the book more enjoyable.

The descriptions of the hotel and its rooms were good, and helped me to set the stage for the plot in my own mind.

A fun and reasonably quick read.

Becca and Blake are headed to a murder mystery weekend getaway that may or may not turn into a real-life who-dun-it mystery. I think way too much time was spent on Becca and Blake's marital issues. Becca spends so much time brooding over her marriage that I lost interest in the actual mystery. The mystery was a bit predictable and made the ending lacking.


Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"A remote hotel. A murder mystery. A missing woman. Everyone has a role to play, but what’s real and what’s part of the game?

The weekend getaway at a gorgeous hotel should have been perfect. But Becca is smarting from her husband Blake’s betrayal and knows that the trip is just an expensive apology attempt. Still, the drinks are strong, and the weekend has an elaborate 1920s murder mystery theme. She decides to get into the spirit and enjoy their stay.

Before long, the game is afoot: Famed speakeasy songstress Ida Crooner is found :murdered," and it's up to the guests to sniff out the culprit. Playing the role of Miss Debbie Taunte, an ingenue with a dark past, Becca dives into the world of pun-heavy clues, hammy acting, and secret passages, hoping to take her mind off her marital troubles.

Then, the morning after they arrive, the actress playing Ida's maid fails to reappear for her role. Everyone assumes she flaked out on the job, but when snooping for clues as "Debbie," Becca finds evidence that the young woman may not have left of her own free will.

Told over a nail-biting forty-eight hours and interspersed with in-game clues, set pieces, and character histories from the flapper-filled mystery nested inside a modern one, All Dressed Up is a loving tribute to classic whodunits and a riveting exploration of the secrets we keep."

I love authors able to put a new twist on the Golden Age tropes.

After a recent betrayal, Becca’s husband Blake surprises her with a murder mystery weekend getaway. The weekend should be perfect, as the mansion is gorgeous, the guests and fun and even a few of their friends are there, but Becca is still reeling from her husband’s affair. The game is fun, with secret passages, funny clues and an eccentric staff. But when one of the housekeepers disappear, Becca can’t help but wonder: is this part of the game or an actual murder?

I loved the idea of this book! Murder mystery weekend? Sign me up! The book was broken into sections by the rounds of the game, which I found fun. I felt bad for Becca, having just gone through her husband’s infidelity, so there is a lot of her inner dialogue as she tries to work through things. That could be hard sometimes, because it was a lot, but I suppose it was very true to life in that way. The ending had me surprised for sure - and I love a book where I don’t see the twist coming!

Thank you to Ballantine / Randomhouse for the ARC! “All Dressed Up” releases September 6th.

This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly 🙂

All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon is the story of betrayal. Becca and Blake go on a murder mystery weekend getaway to try and work on their relationship. While the pair try to solve the fake murder, an actual murder occurs. Who can you trust?

Blake takes Becca on a surprise weekend getaway. He's trying to repair the damage caused by his affair. Becca doesn't know if she can forgive Blake.

The pair meet three other couples during their murder mystery weekend. Becca is on edge. She's trying to solve a game, repair her relationship, and deal with odd behavior from the players and the staff.

One thing is for sure: Becca will solve the case.

The murder is just a part of Becca's problems. She's a mess. If you're reading and looking for a huge mystery to solve, you may be disappointed. The plot isn't complicated. The main character is.

I did enjoy the journey. The destination is a little meh.

All Dressed Up is a murder mystery within a murder mystery (game that is). Becca and Blake have been struggling with their marriage ever since he cheated on her and, as much as she tries to work through it, internal conflicts await her at every turn as she remains in torment over what to do. While others that read this critiqued that Becca’s constant internalization of Blake’s cheating got in the way of the rest of the story, I think that it actually profoundly added to it. I thought her insecurities, charged nerves, worries she wasn’t good enough, came from a very vulnerable, emotional, true place and I deeply, intuitively understood and recognized each of these as part of her individualized healing process.

Relationships hurt, take work, and are not so black and white as they can seem from an outsider’s perspective. As soon as inner, deep emotions get involved, there’s no going back to your same original state. Becca recognizes this as, in hopes of winning her back, Blake signs them up for a murder mystery themed weekend at a gothic mansion more to salvage their crumbling marriage than anything.

However, as the weekend progresses, strange occurrences start swirling around the participants of the game, which Becca especially picks up on, as she struggles to distinguish reality and the game apart. What is true and what is all nothing but an act? Is anything as it seems? She has to grapple with her own relationship to Blake as she remains entangled in surreptitiously eavesdropping on hushed whispers and exchanges between others at the mansion that increasingly seem to feel dramatically more and more incriminating. I was drawn into every bit of the drama and acts of pretend that led me to question the authenticity of the person and their performance.

Becca speaks to how it can feel to wade through the mess and uncertainty of love, which I thought was important in terms of being able to recognize when to hold on and fight and when to let go and find a new sense of self-created, meaningful fullness elsewhere.

Many thanks to NetGalley for my advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

I had thought that, when I reviewed this book, I would be writing something like “ What a fun summer, escapist novel.” How could it miss? A modern take on an Agatha Christie type book. A weekend, murder mystery game attended by a paying group of guests gathered in a swank Catskills mansion. And then I read the book. I got right into the premise of story. It had my interest until I got to know the main character. She and her husband are attending the mystery weekend as some sort of strange , marriage healing event after the husband’s episode of infidelity. So begins the bracketing, between the interesting stuff about the game, of the endless stewing, snarling, and all around kvetching of the wife over said infidelity making me feel like a shrink/marriage counselor who’s been stiffed out of her pay after having to listen to it. By midpoint I was pretty sure “who done it” and why and so I skimmed the whining for the last half and the ending proved that I was right.

It's a fun concept, but once you get x number of characters all of whom have a minimum of 2 different identities, all of whom are at least trying to mix you up about something, although often not the thing you think they are...it's just messy. And maybe, maybe it would have been worth all of that if any of the characters were actually interesting to begin with, but...not so in this case.

I mostly enjoyed this adult debut from Jilly Gagnon.

Here's the gist: Becca Wilson's marriage is in trouble, so when her husband books them a weekend murder mystery at a country hotel, Becca hopes this will be the time away they need to start over. But when one of the murder mystery actors doesn't show up for a shift, Becca suddenly has a real-life mystery on her hands.

I was intrigued by the premise-- a murder mystery weekend with a real-life mystery. I gave it 3 stars because I'd hoped the ending would be something I couldn't have guessed, but it did fall a little flat for me. It also felt too much in Becca's head sometimes, and all of the character names got hard to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for this e-copy.

Becca and Blake are headed to a murder mystery weekend getaway that may or may not turn into a real-life who-dun-it. All Dressed Up started promising, with a '20s-themed weekend and two mysteries to follow along with; what is there not to like? However, we spend too much time on Becca and Blake's marital issues. Becca is not the best character to follow, and the side characters suck too. Blake seems manipulative and immature; at one point, he blames Becca for his cheating.

Becca spends so much time brooding over her marriage that I lost interest in the mystery. The real mystery was a bit predictable, with the author writing the characters cartoonishly suspicious (if that makes sense). I had trouble with the writing, some sentences made no sense no matter how many times I read them, or a character would do or say something that added nothing to the scene.

It was fun to see the fake mystery while Becca tries to figure out what is real and what is part of the game, but that's as much as I liked.

Unfortunately, this one is a no for me. I love a good murder mystery weekend, but this killed me because of the characters. They killed it for me. Would’ve been higher if i could actually get into the story. But the cover is great!

This was such a good thriller! It kept me guessing and intrigued the whole time! The characters were likable and well developed. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

The synopsis to this story caught my attention, looked so fun and intriguing. It is set in the New England area at a Gothic mansion. The story was good, not memorable and it had potential.
The weekend getaway to a twenties themed murder mystery was Blake's idea of surprising Becca. Their marriage is in shambles after he got caught with a co-worker.
The chapters are well organized using rounds of the game. There are several other guest couples participating in solving the murder. The host, Ms. Crooner, the staff and guests were all "in character" and period costume. Their conversation was also supposed to be of the era. There were clues, but it was hard to follow and disjointed. The supporting characters could have used more background and development. They were hard to connect with or get invested into what happened to them. Perhaps I'm greedy, wanted to know more about the participants.
The possibility that someone has really disappeared or actually been murdered distracts Becca. She was hungover most of the time, so wasn't very clear headed. She was described as not self-assured, deeply hurt by Blake's betrayal and didn't seem to have supportive friends. While her situation was sympathetic, her constant sniff laugh was just annoying.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance digital copy of "All Dressed Up" by Jilly Gagnon and to Random House Publishing. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.