One thing about Tess Sharpe she's gonna write a thriller who's actually thrilling. This was amazing quick and fast paced, i read it in one sitting. The romantic tension between our MC was so electric and i was at the edge of my seat the whole time

The thing I love about Tess Sharpe novels is that I always know what I'm going to get (in the best way possible): wilderness, bad-ass female characters, and sapphics. This isn't any different, although the plot of course is - Tess is so good at leaning into PIs, in her YA as well, and having characters go on a tear. The body count is actually lower in this one than usual, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I did feel like there were maybe a couple of loose threads left at the end but overall, it was fast-paced and I loved the twists and turns - it kept me riveted right up until the end.

thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

No Body, No Crime is a thriller about two reunited women battling a powerful family whilst rekindling the romance torn apart by the guy they killed aged sixteen. Mel is a private investigator whose latest job sees her tasked by the Harper family to hunt down their daughter, Chloe. The thing is, Chloe was Mel's girlfriend back when they were teenagers, after they bonded killing Toby Dune at Chloe's sixteenth birthday party, and Mel's been battling internally for years after feeling left by Chloe disappearing. Chloe had her reasons, however, and those reasons are still out there: a powerful local family, after something that Toby had stolen from them.

This book sounded like an adult version of Sharpe's novel The Girls I've Been, and that's really what it is: a fun, queer thriller that makes for an escapist read. Even though the book does touch on some deeper topics, like Mel's brother's drug problems or her abusive dad, these tend to be more like texture in the story rather than anything that is really explored. The narrative is told from a variety of perspectives, mostly Mel and Chloe but not just them, and this works pretty well alongside the non-chronological structure to build up a picture of events slowly, so revelations come at the right time. However, I was expecting a few more twists at the end, as the conclusion was all a bit too neat and perfect for a book that seems messier.

You have to take this book like you would when approaching an action film: sure, it's going to be a bit ridiculous at times, with the two protagonists being ridiculously good at fighting and survival, but that's the kind of fun you signed up for. As a queer person who loves action films, I like what Tess Sharpe does in making action thriller-type stories which also feature queer romance.