Hi k-b-r-p-h,
Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. We understand Contacts is crashing when attempting to search. We recommend testing to see if the same issue occurs in safe mode as this can help isolate the issue. Safe mode also removes some cache files as well. This article has the steps if needed: Start up your Mac in safe mode.
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Start up your Mac with Apple silicon in safe mode
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
- Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar) are off.
- Press and hold the power button on your Mac until “Loading startup options” appears.
- Select a volume.
- Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.
- The computer restarts automatically. When the login window appears, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.
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If the issue doesn't occur in safe mode, try booting up normally again to see if the issue still happens.
Since this issue occurred right after an update, you may also want to check your disk for errors by running First Aid. This will try to repair any errors to your disk and data structure. This article has the steps: Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac.
Take care.