The Crack in the Teacup by C.M. Albrecht is a mystery novel with a touch of romance and suspense to spice things up. The story takes place in a small town in California, where a boy named Jerry Beakey, who is 11 years old, goes missing on his way to a music lesson. Author C.M. Albrecht does a great job of taking the reader through every part of the case, including what happens in police departments, support centres, and with the missing person's family.
In The Crack in the Teacup, there are two main people. While working on the case, Detective Steve Music and his coworkers get into fights with the FBI. Shelly Lambert is beautiful and kind, but she keeps a terrible secret and feels guilty about it. This makes her want to help missing and exploited children whenever she can get away from her job as a Notary.
When Detective Music and Shelly work together on a case, something deeper happens between them. Both of them don't seem to know what to do. When Steve looks into Shelly's past, he finds out her secret. This makes a huge rift between them that could end their relationship.
A classic whodunit written in the style of Agatha Christie, with a very strange reason for a child to be taken away. Nearly everyone in the book was a suspect at some point, and I liked that the characters were like people in real life, with different races, ideas, and backgrounds. There isn't much violence in The Crack in the Teacup, but there is a lot of mystery and a happy ending.
ISBN#: 1-59466-037-9
C. M. Albrecht is the author.
Port Town Publishing is the publisher.
