All Dressed Up
A Novel
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
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?
“Jilly Gagnon’s well-crafted maze of clues and shifting realities is the perfect read for fans of Lucy Foley.”—Wendy Walker, bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
YA author Gagnon (#famous) makes her adult debut with a clever mystery. New Yorker Becca Wilson isn't sure her marriage can survive after her husband, Blake, has an affair, but she's willing to try to forgive him after he surprises her with a stay at an upstate mansion hotel hosting eight guests for a murder mystery weekend with a Roaring Twenties theme. Blake is asked to adopt the guise of Reid A. Dailey, a fictional newspaper heir, while Becca is assigned the role of ingenue Debbie Taunte. At first, she enjoys the lavish setting, campy scenario, and chance to wear her best clothes. But the discovery of the "victim"—chanteuse Ida Crooner's dramatically staged corpse—isn't enough to distract her from the pain of Blake's infidelity, and her unease grows when the young woman pretending to be Crooner's maid vanishes without explanation. Gagnon smoothly integrates the Wilsons' marital woes with the present-day mystery and the 1920s puzzle, which is illuminated by handouts from the event's organizers scattered throughout the text. Becca's sardonic first-person narration sparkles. Lovers of both golden age and contemporary whodunits will have fun.
Customer Reviews
For fans of “Clue”
If you love the game “Clue,” then you’ll love “All Dressed Up” by Jilly Gagnon! This modern day whodunit takes us to the Catskills region of New York where a group of strangers have converged together for a murder mystery weekend at a remote hotel. While each person takes on a 1920s character as part of the event, they are also harboring personal secrets in addition to those of their character’s that begin to come to light as the story unfolds. In the meantime, one of the hotel staff goes missing, but only one guest seems to notice. Becca then embarks on her own personal investigation to attempt to solve the real mystery before time runs out.
Since I’m a big fan of both the board game & movie “Clue,” I very much enjoyed this book. I thought the quiet evolution of Heather from a housewife & mother into a cold-blooded killer was very well done. I did not expect that outcome at all, though looking back, her marriage was almost too perfect to be true.
My only criticism concerns the potential ménage a trois between Jessica, Becca & Becca’s husband Blake. I felt the kissing scene between the two females was far-fetched & didn’t add anything to the storyline. Gagnon circled back to it again in the final pages as the guests prepared to leave the hotel, which again, I found unnecessary to the plot.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Worth adding to your Fall TBR!