Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

This mystery/thriller was incredibly well done and drew me in from the start. It reminded me a bit of Sue Grafton (maybe the PI character and California setting?) but was so much faster paced and drew me in from the beginning. I finished it in just a few hours and even skipped my workout today to get the last 20% done before the sun rose.

Setting - primarily a small ranch town in northern California, but a portion takes place in the California Cascade Mountains and the Canadian back country. All locations are well-drawn and serve the plot well. You can sense the isolation in the remote areas and the small-town feel.

Characters - primarily Mel and Chloe who trauma bonded over a murder in their teens and it developed into a real love between them. Their desire to protect each other and the others they love is what drives the plot. It’s real and it’s understandable. Other characters of note include Mel’s brother Ted and the twins, Whitney and Gigi along with the Richards, a despicable trio old related men all with the same first name (Richard, Rick and Junior in the book).

Pacing - this was a fast paced thrill ride from start to finish. Interspersed with multiple flashbacks and told from multiple POVs, it was easy to follow. The flashbacks never took me out of the story - they enhanced it.

No Body, No Crime is a gripping thriller that fuses pulse-pounding suspense with a compelling sapphic romance. Tess Sharpe delivers smart pacing, sharp timeline shifts, and twists that keep you hooked, while the complex relationship between Mel and Chloe adds real emotional weight and heart. It zips along with adrenaline and intimacy, though I wish a few threads had been explored a little deeper.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Tess Sharpe writes my kind of books: flawed heroines who stand up for themselves and their chosen few when faced with unceasing obstacles.

No Body No Crimes fits the bill. Chloe has been on the run for 6 years. Her ersatz girlfriend Mrl has become a PI in part yo look for her and in part because she's really, really good at it.

A local political family that wields outsized power in their area is also looking for Chloe.

As Chloe and Mel play cat and mouse with the Dicks, we are treated to a grand plot, intriguing side characters, some epic action and although its trite, its true: the power of friendship/found families.

Tess Sharpe, keep writing! You're a Must Buy!

No Body No Crime hooked me from the opening scene and kept me curious right to the end. Mel, a 24-year-old PI with a violent past, is smart, loyal, and easy to root for. Chloe, her high school love turned wilderness survivor, is equally compelling. I loved the mix of action, humour, and sapphic heat, and I was absolutely cheering for the bad guys to go down.

The dual timelines worked well, giving just enough backstory to keep me turning pages. But with so many POVs and a big cast, it sometimes tipped into confusion - I lost track of who was who more than once. And while the twists kept me reading, the ending tied everything up a bit too neatly to really land with impact.

Still, it’s a solid girl-power story - full of strong, clever, capable women and men who can’t quite handle it (which is pretty fun to read).

Looking forward to what Tess Sharpe writes next!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings for No Body, No Crime include: blood, plane crash, murder & attempted murder and violence.
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To my knowledge, this is the author's first adult novel. I've read multiple other books from her, and loved them. I don't really know what was different about this one, aside from it being written for an older audience, but I just wasn't interested. I tried twice with it, and I got further in the second time, but I just wasn't managing to get my teeth into it properly.
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I normally really like Sharpe's writing style, and I've read three other thrillers from her, this one just didn't hit the mark for me for whatever reason.
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If you're a fan of this author's other novels, there's a good chance you'll also enjoy this one.
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Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book.

I loved the first chapter, but then it took me awhile to get into this book. The story did pick up despite the slow start, and the alternating timelines and different points of view made it more interesting. I’m glad I kept reading because I ended up enjoying No Body No Crime overall!

“I’ve loved you since the second I really knew you and I loved you all the years you were gone and I love you now, even though I know what you look like when you lie to me.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Tess Sharpe’s Far From You was a five-star read for me earlier this year. That was a warm-up act.

Mel Tillman has built a life around chasing down secrets, but there’s one she’s never been able to outrun, Chloe Harper. How could she ever forget her first love, or the person she killed Toby Dunne with when she was sixteen? Six years ago, Chloe vanished without a trace, leaving Mel with unanswered questions and a broken heart.

When Mel is hired by the Harper family to track Chloe down, the search leads Mel deep into a web of danger tied to a powerful family with everything to lose. From tense chases to unexpected perils in the wilderness, Mel must navigate lies, betrayals, and the lingering pull of first love to uncover the truth. To survive, Mel and Chloe will have to confront the past they’ve both been running from.

The pacing of this novel is immaculate! The suspense, the push and pull of questions answered only for new questions to emerge, made this such a page-turner. From plane crashes to feral peacocks—the peacocks!—even the wildest moments felt grounded by the story’s ultra-real themes of overcoming circumstance and confronting corruption.

It’s giving Thelma & Louise meets Veronica Mars. It’s a good time! The attitude against shitty men was delightful. “Men really do fail upward.” For anyone who enjoys lesbian revenge, journeys through the wilderness, and toxic men finally facing the consequences of their actions, this book delivers!

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar Straus and Giroux for this ARC!

I liked this! It was a great mix of fiery romance and thrilling action that kept me on my toes the whole time I was reading.

No Body No Crime follows Mel and Chloe across a past and present timeline spanning from a fatal night in their teens to when their past catches up to them and threatens their lives. As a PI, it's part of Mel’s job to look for people. But the people she's hired to look for are usually not Chloe, the girl she fell in love with years ago, before Chloe disappeared. Mel accepts the challenge of finding her, but she doesn’t expect to find a new Chloe, one irrevocably changed by their past. Six years ago, Mel and Chloe killed together. They buried Toby Dunne the night of Chloe’s 16th birthday and didn’t look back. What they didn’t realize was that they buried Toby with something, something valuable to some powerful people. They want it back, and will do anything to get it, including hunting down the only people who know where Toby is buried. Now, Mel and Chloe must work together to evade the people hunting them and tame old feelings coming back to surface.

I had a lot of fun reading this. I will say that it was certainly chaotic, being a mixture of a romance and action story presented in multiple perspectives through a past and present timeline, but I do think it was handled relatively well. I did find myself a little overwhelmed at some parts, but the story was so fast paced and exciting it was easy to overcome. I like Mel, Chloe, and our other characters. I especially liked how the dynamics between different characters advanced the plot. I also think the plot was well rounded, and did not feel like there were questions left unanswered.

All in all, I think this was a good read! If you are looking for a fast-paced, sapphic romance with exciting action, I definitely recommend!

This book was a wild ride. There are so many plot twists and it really keeps you guessing until the last second. If you are looking for a fast-paced and adventurous read with lovable characters and feminine rage, I highly recommend checking out No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

3.5 stars

What a fast-paced, queer, page turning romp! This was almost a DNF for me in the first quarter because I wasn’t a fan of the pacing and time jumps. But I’m glad I stuck with it.

Two teen girls, Chloe and Mel, commit a murderous deed to survive a powerful family. But the fight isn’t over and Chloe runs off, leaving her life behind, to protect her loved ones. Mel 6 years later, now a PI instructed by Chloe’s family to find their runaway daughter. Some secrets run deep but so does queer love. Mayhem ensues!

I enjoyed the characters but felt like bits of the story were too rushed to feel any strong character development. It also seemed a bit repetitive but sorted itself out by the last third of the book.

I’d recommend this book to folks that enjoy queer, mystery, heist-like, survival stories!

Characters were developed and I did like them. Rooting for the good guys because you want them to come out on top. Page turner and interested read.

I'm not able to picture anything in my head while I'm reading, it's just words. So when I tell you that this book was absolutely like reading a movie, that's saying something. I swear at one point I started hearing a score that didn't exist. Sapphic mystery with romance? Yes. Immediately. Plus Tess Sharpe wrote it and she's an auto-read for me.

Told in both past and present points of view, I had the best time reading Mel and Chloe's chaotic journey to solving a decades old mystery while trying to stay alive. I really just had the absolute best time reading and wished I had some popcorn with me while doing so. If you are looking for a fun book that reads like a movie, this is it. Highly recommend.

No Body No Crime is an enthralling high stakes thriller. It wastes no time throwing the reader, along with Mel and Chloe. I enjoyed the presentation of both present and past events of the story. While I enjoyed the story, it often felt like there was too many POVs presented, and I often had to backtrack for context. This was presented as sapphic book, the romance was not particularly convincing or fleshed out. I enjoyed this as a fun quick summer read. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title!

This was my first Tess Sharpe book and I enjoyed it! I liked that the action started right off the bat and kept me engaged. I liked the writing style and character building. I think the duel timelines worked well here too. I would be interested in reading more by Sharpe in the future!

Mel and Chloe are my new favourite heroines! The love / hate relationship and the way they bounced off each other with sarcasm, joy, fear and intimacy was the standout part of this story for me. It was a crime novel full of wit and humour as well as true emotion and fantastic relationships - I've never read a crime novel that so successfully managed to balance these two elements. Girl power, a plane crash, murder, mystery, barbie pink guns (who knew?!?!), a missing person investigation, action, adventure and peacocks - that's all you need right there! Loved it.

Okay Wow! Tess Sharpe outdid herself with this one. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review and it did not disappoint. I love that even though I felt like I knew exactly what was happening in this book it turned out I knew nothing.


It really was a good read

Tess Sharpe always gets me good in the best way, and this one was just the same. The romance was sweet and the big TWIST was a fun surprise. While it did feel slightly predictable at times, I did enjoy the look an small town politics and how class and wealth can rule above all.

DNF 20%. Not going to lie I’m kind of forcing myself through this. It’s meant to be thrilling but I’m kind of fed up more than I thought I would be at the hiestxstarcrossed lovers deal. It sounded so good, but I quickly lost interest. The characters seem really cool and crazy and the bag of Dicks sound entertaining but I am really picky about media starting with a plane crash.

4,5 stars
I started this book with absolutely no knowledge about the plot, but I knew it was a Tess Sharpe book so I knew I was going to love it and I sure did!
If you like fast paced books full of actions and questions, this book is for you it just never stops! The very first chapter sets the tone immediately, you're instantly thrown in the middle of the action with a million question and it's impossible to stop reading until you have all the answers.

I want to thank the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book! I had a lot of fun reading this novel. It started a bit slow, but it really caught speed and was hard to put down. The ,multiple perspectives and time changes added to the mystery factor. The chemistry between our two main characters was tangible and you could truly see the lengths that were willing to go for each other (and the lengths they did go). I think that enjoy who enjoys action, high stakes, and low spice this is the book for you. But I will say that you should check triggers in this book because if you go into expecting a simple romance you would be disappointed. Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this novel, and watching the story take fold. I didn't expect the twists as they were developing, and that was nice. Sometimes I feel like books are a bit too predictable, but this was able to hold on to a bit of the magic in the suspension of disbelief. Sometimes it got a bit messy in the complete execution of ideas, but overall, I had a nice time. I'd give this book 3 stars for a good, nice time. The only thing I want to ask is whose peacocks were those? Sharpe, please tell me. All thoughts are honest (unlike the main characters lol) and my own.