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.
Jilly Gagnon’s humor writing, personal essays, and op-eds have appeared in Newsweek, Elle, Vanity Fair, Boston magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Toast, and The Hairpin, among others. She is the author of the young adult novel #famous. She also co-writes the Choose Your Own Misery dark comedy series with Mike MacDonald.
“Classic Agatha Christie goes meta in this wish-we’d-thought-of-it premise: a real whodunnit set against the backdrop of a 1920s-themed murder mystery weekend. Think
Knives Out all dolled up as
The Great Gatsby. This is a super-fun pastiche with a wicked smart plot peppered with clever clues and compelling characters.”
—Ellery Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of The Club“When a couple attend a 1920s themed murder mystery weekend to save their marriage, they find themselves in a real-life whodunnit after one of the actors disappears. Jilly Gagnon’s well-crafted maze of clues and shifting realities is the perfect read for fans of Lucy Foley.
All Dressed Up is mind-bending fun!”
—Wendy Walker, bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten“Gagnon invites readers inside one seriously wicked little game with this utterly satisfying mystery. I didn’t stop second-guessing myself until the very last page.”
—Kieran Scott, author of Wish You Were Gone
“With a deliciously creepy setting and juicy interpersonal intrigue, deftly weaves the search for a missing woman with a nuanced exploration of a marriage on the brink.”
—Sarah Zachrich Jeng, author of The Other Me
“
Clue meets Shari Lapena’s
An Unwanted Guest. . . . I felt as if I was in the middle of a murder-mystery game and playing along with the characters. Such a fun read!”
—Georgina Cross, author of Nanny Needed
