I can't believe I didn't review this one already!

It was a really good read. I am quite excited for more Cara Walden books in the future.

I learned about the McCarthy era in high school (many moons ago) and liked how this book helped to understand what it would have been like LIVING in that time. Cara's half brother is a gay communist. A great combo for the early 50s (yes that is sarcasm).

The deceased mother aspect (not giving anything away) also shows how a young girl could feel broken and alone and not know who to love or trust. It also adds mystery and suspense to an already good story line.

I can't wait to read future stories!

The film industry in post war London and Sicily as told by Cara Walden, a young actress. Didn't really find it an interesting read, the story or the characters.

I was disappointed by this title. I'm a huge fan of mysteries set during the golden age of Hollywood and was hoping that this would be similar to Megan Abbott's early work. Unfortunately, I thought it dragged a lot. The beginning was strong, with the narration sounding very noir-like and could easily be viewed as the dialogue from an older dame talking to a man in a bar about her younger years. But even though the Kindle app said I was advancing through the story, it felt like I was in the same place. Nothing seemed to be moving forward, and there wasn't much of a mystery to speak of. I had to reread the plot description several times just to double check on whose mysterious death it was supposed to be about. I think Lieberman spent too much time on the setting and not enough on the plot.

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Lisa Lieberman, and Passport Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

All the Wrong Places is a fast read, and intriguing. The fictional story basically follows the son and daughter of Hollywood director Robbie Walden from the summer of 1941 through September, 1956. What sounds like a simple and a slightly overworked plotline certainly isn't. This is a novel that will appeal to those with an interest in history and politics both US and European, Hollywood film buffs, and travel.

Ms. Lieberman tells her story through points of history we are all familiar with. We are in Hollywood for the beginning of the McCarthy witch hunt, London in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. We are in Sicily years after the end of WWII, with families still living in the streets or the basements of bombed out homes. We dance with the gypsies on the beach at Trani in southern Italy. We are in Monaco for the wedding of Grace Kelly. At the 1956 Cannes Film Festival we see THE SILENT WORLD by Jacques Cousteau which everyone knows, and Alain Resnais's NIGHT AND FOG which didn't make an appearance in the USA until it was shown briefly on Netflix in 2016 (See Joshua Oppenheimer on Night and Fog on Youtube).

But back to our tale. Grey, son of Robbie Walden and his first wife, is a screenwriter under investigation by The House Un-American Activities Committee for his sympathetic involvement with the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War, and the screenplay he was adapting of Brothers Karamazov. Grey is 15 years older than his half-sister Cara, daughter of Robbie and his third wife Vivien who drowns in the family swimming pool when Cara is eleven. Cara is just 17 in 1950 when she gives up her newborn son for adoption and accompanies her brother Grey on the Queen Mary to exile in England. She doesn't see her father again until spring of '56 in Monaco, or return to the US, until September 1956 when she brings her ailing father home.

This is a book to keep, and read again. It is a story that will resonate in your thoughts for a long time.

Lisa Lieberman’s All The Wrong Places is not a traditional mystery. It defies categorization and boldly creates its own path. Cara is a consummate storyteller, deftly painting a vivid picture of her extraordinary life and experiences. Her reminiscences capture the reader who wants to understand the mystery that is Cara.

Cara is a young actress who flees with her brother, a screenwriter, to England during the McCarthy persecution of artists and writers. She and her brother Gray have very different reasons for leaving the US, but they both need the healing distance offers. Cara shares details of her life, the people they encounter and their experiences in a nonlinear fashion. The novel is filled with the glamour of early filmmaking and extraordinary personalities - actors, directors, writers, musicians and revolutionaries. There is a mystery, the reason behind the death of her mother. Although it has a profound effect on Cara’s life, it doesn't take up much of the novel’s narrative.

All The Wrong Places is a difficult novel to describe. It doesn't fit neatly into any one category. It is a novel that will be loved by old film buffs, readers of women’s fiction, and mystery lover’s looking for something unique and just a touch Hitchcockian.
I eagerly await Lisa Lieberman’s follow up novel.

5 / 5

I received a copy of All the Wrong Places from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

-Crittermom