by Angela Gerst

Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95, 258 pages

Susan Castillo is a former real-estate lawyer-turned political consultant whose life is going great.  Sure, she has piles of debt from opening her new business, hasn’t dated anyone since her ex-boyfriend, police officer, Michael Benedict, walked out on her and spends most of her off-time with her surrogate grandfather instead of friends. But most of the time she can focus on work and ignore the rest of her life. This changes when a new client is murdered and Michael comes back into her life.  As things unravel, she finds out who she can trust.

A Crack in Everything is an entertaining and well-written mystery novel by first-time author Angela Gerst. She has created a main character that is relatable to the reader. Susan is smart and tough but also lonely and she gratifyingly makes mistakes in judgment of people and situations along the way. The story is equally interesting and has an interesting backdrop with the lower-level political races that the character organizes. The other characters in the book are less complex but the plot is entertaining enough to overcome that. Mystery fans will enjoy this book and want to read more from the author.

Reviewed by Barbara Cothern