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.
Fiendfully Reading 
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