Lisa Lieberman

All The Wrong Places is a very smart and engaging tale. Part mystery novel, part historical drama, it is most of all the deftly-told story of Cara Walden, lonely teenage child of a famous ex-pat American director and his glamorous actress wife. The story takes place in post-war London and Italy, settings artfully brought to life through finely wrought period details and by referencing historical events and figures in an unforced way. The mystery part is mainly Cara's need to find out who killed her mother at her father's famous London estate, something that took place when Cara was ten. But as Cara careens around Europe, pondering her mother's end, worrying about her communist brother (this is the McCarthy era) and her ailing father, she is also chasing her own artistic dream and looking for love (yes, in all the wrong places), and her inner journey is every bit as captivating as the book's core mystery. The story is told in Cara's own articulate and likeable voice, as she narrates from the perspective of a woman looking back.… (mere)