The Safecracker's Secret

I was intrigued by the title of The Safecracker's Secret and wanted to read it before I even knew what it was about. Sandra Bretting does not disappoint.

Gene Jacks is getting up in years. He lives with his dog and runs a locksmith shop. In the past, he was known as the best of the best at safecracking. Now, from time to time, he uses his skills to assist the Houston Police Department in opening safes at crime scenes. He's old school - no high-tech gizmos or explosives, just a good ear and a deft touch with the tumblers. He's called upon here to help when the police find a young woman, a student at a local college, dead at a drug house.

Skye has a less than stellar relationship with her father. He just doesn't seem to connect with her or really understand her. But Skye stumbles across Gene's shop, and Gene hires her when he realizes that she's a lot better with numbers than Reef, the guy he'd just hired. Skye finds something of a father figure in Gene, and Gene finds a protege in Skye. Turns out she has some raw talent at safecracking, and I'd love to see more of that story unfold in a different book.

There are unexpected connections throughout the story, and while the murder of the young woman is a mystery to be solved, to me, the story was more about relationships. Skye and her father, Skye and Gene, Gene and his past and how that both draws him toward and pushes him away from Skye, all of these threads are woven throughout the story. Bretting does a wonderful job at presenting each character's viewpoint clearly, and she weaves them together nicely at the end.