Tess Sharpe’s No Body No Crime isn’t based on Taylor Swift’s “No Body No Crime,” but it’s a good song to have on the playlist while reading. There’s plenty of atmosphere here, but the book is more explosive than atmospheric. The violence piles up quickly, and so do the bodies and the missing people. This was such a fun read.
I can’t talk much about what happens, because the fun is in discovering for yourself how a missing woman, a plane crash, and a car crash after a high school party tie together. Mel is a private investigator. Her mentor, Nat Parker, tells her she knows how to find Chloe Harper, the same Chloe Mel is in a plane crash with in the current timeline, and involved with a car crash in the past timeline. And there’s something about a missing boy from their high school class. Chloe disappeared for a reason, and it looks like someone wants her dead.
Sharpe gives us several points of view, but keeps things mostly focused on Mel and Chloe. She also gives plenty of humor to lighten the suspense.
When a woman sets up booby traps, she doesn’t expect to be psychoanalyzed because of them. She expects her enemies to trigger them so she can flee.
Sharpe gives us pieces of the puzzle so that it seems pretty clear that Mel and Chloe lied about the car wreck, and they know something about Toby’s disappearance. While all of the information is important, and the pace of the plot is important to the enjoyment of the story, the heart of the book is Mel and Chloe’s relationship. They were a secret romance in high school, and their reunion as adults is fraught with familiarity, mistrust, and desire.
No Body No Crime is a feral delight.
I received this as an advance reader copy. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.