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Murder in the Keys #1

No Place to Die

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NO PLACE TO DIE is book #1 in a new romantic suspense series by #1 bestselling author Jaden Skye!

Olivia and Todd, madly in love, fly down to Key West when Todd offers to take her on a surprise trip for a magical weekend. Though they have only been dating five months, Olivia can’t help but wonder if Todd is preparing to pop the big question along the beautiful shores.

Yet Olivia’s paradise quickly turns to hell when Todd dies right before her eyes, in a tragic accident.

Or was it?

Olivia sinks further into the abyss as the police wonder if she did it, and finds herself backed into a corner, having to prove her innocence while finding out if Todd was truly murdered. Yet as she searches, entering the underbelly of Key West, forced to deal with unsavory locals and with Todd’s difficult and grieving family, she discovers things about Todd that she wished she never knew—discoveries that make her realize that she never really knew the man she loved at all.

NO PLACE TO DIE is book #1 in an explosive new romantic suspense series filled with love, tragedy, heartbreak, betrayal and suspense, one that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #2 will be released soon.

Jaden is also author of the #1 Bestselling series MURDER IN THE CARIBBEAN, which begins with DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1), a free download with over 200 five star reviews!

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2017

2663 people are currently reading
1855 people want to read

About the author

Jaden Skye

154 books139 followers
Jaden Skye has always been fascinated with mystery, wrongful death, lies, deception and the power of the truth to prevail. Her romantic suspense/mystery novels feature strong female protagonists who must overcome insurmountable obstacles, and through them, she seeks to get to the very heart of the nature of justice and love.

Her first three novels, DEATH BY HONEYMOON (BOOK #1 IN THE CARIBBEAN MURDER SERIES), DEATH BY DIVORCE (BOOK #2 IN THE CARIBBEAN MURDER SERIES)and DEATH BY MARRIAGE (#3 IN THE CARIBBEAN MURDER SERIES) are now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble elsewhere. Please feel free to visit her site, www.jadenskye.com to stay in touch.

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5 stars
448 (18%)
4 stars
594 (24%)
3 stars
719 (29%)
2 stars
389 (16%)
1 star
248 (10%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 225 reviews
Profile Image for Provin Martin.
418 reviews73 followers
December 4, 2020
‘She wasn’t ready to die. Not now. Not ever’

What a crazy ride this book was! It’s and Fun, easy fast read. Made even faster when you download the free Apple Books audio version and listen to it at 2x speed while cleaning house. Lol. Non stop action right here!!

Olivia is thrilled you be in her new relationship. She takes a vacation to Key West and her boyfriend proposes. Hours later she awakes to find him clinging to life, and later dying at the hospital. Who would do this? As the book goes on you find out she didn’t know her fiancé very well at all.
157 reviews
June 28, 2017
Since I've read books in her Caribbean series I expected better than this. I don't think I've ever encountered so many stupid people in a book before this. Although there were twists and turns they all seemed artificial, perhaps because I had figured out who did it about a tenth of the way into the book.
Profile Image for Thyana.
46 reviews
August 28, 2017
This book lacked in fleshing out of characters and storylines. I never could fully get into the supposed "love" and "perfection" of Olivia & Todd because they didn't show them enough as a couple for me to get invested and that thread throughout the entire plot of the story. You're supposed to root for the protagonist but there was nothing about her that made you just want to latch on. There was a line where Olivia said her and Todd never spoke about their past so that they can just focus on themselves in the present and the future they were heading toward, but us as readers never knew much about the past either so by dropping us in the middle of the story we were lost trying to figure out what lead them to that point. The author didn't care so I as a reader didn't care either.

The other characters were just as bad and one-note. Olivia's mother and sister didn't have any reason to be mentioned if they were going to be trotted out for filler. Todd's family's anger and finger-pointing were so ludicrous that every time they were mentioned I just rolled my eyes.

And the last thing because there was just so much to be annoyed at this book with and I'll be here all day so I'll cut it short, the police. Oh God the police. Such ineptness. I couldn't even imagine any law enforcement who happened to read this book could even get past that. The fact they also asked a civilian if she wanted to work cases with them? Really?

Jaden Skye decided to throw everything at the wall without tying any of the ends to make a coherent story and then to have the audacity to make this series? Please.
Profile Image for April.
638 reviews
September 4, 2017
Got this book through book bub (free) and admit that I broke my own rule: if a book doesn't truly grab me or I am not into the characters by the end of the third chapter, then I stop reading. I kept hoping that it would get better. It didn't. I would say more about the whys but it would be full of specific spoilers. Needless to say Olivia isn't a character I really got behind and while she stumbled onto figuring out the murderer in the typical "it dawned on me at the wrong moment that the person in front of me IS the killer" and then managed not to die before help arrived, I wish she hadn't been the one to figure it out. I disliked that the police officers offered her a way to stay and help them on future cases because I just can't see that happening. A meddler in official police business isn't going to get a "good job, sport, let's work together again". Ugh.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
905 reviews53 followers
February 15, 2022
The story itself wasn’t so bad but the writing was awful. And the ending was ridiculous. I might give it 2 and 1/2 stars if it was possible because the story was ok. I will not be reading any more in this series. And if I managed to save you from wasting your time then I feel just a bit better for wasting mine.
Profile Image for Sara.
87 reviews4 followers
November 30, 2017
2 stars... because I *did* finish it, and that must count for something.

Why did I read this? When did I even get this book?? I really hope it was free...

Yeah, it was that good.

Ugh. So boring. I think the plot summary contained more action, suspense, and mystery than the actual book. Makes me wonder if this was actually more of a prequel, meant to introduce the characters and set the stage for the rest of the series...? I don't think I'll ever know, because I can't imagine reading anything else related to this book.
160 reviews2 followers
August 21, 2017
Very rarely do I choose not to finish a mystery. However, this one was so poorly written, I just couldn't force myself to finish it when there are so many more, better, books out there to read. The characters in the book are one note, and frankly, dumb. The dialogue is terrible. No one talks like that. It was so stilted and cringe-worthy. Of course, I also knew how it was going to end right around the 25% mark. The fact that Olivia didn't figure it out sooner is just an example of how dumb she is.
Profile Image for Linda.
1,285 reviews18 followers
October 11, 2020
I wish there was something good I could say about this book, but there isn't. From the whining Olivia to the other poorly developed characters, there just wasn't much here. Like some others, I kept hoping the story would get better. Weak story line, weaker characters, too easy to figure out who was the killer. On top of all that....unrealistic when Olivia is asked to stay to help with homicide cases. Really???? Where in real life do people inserting themselves into police investigation get asked to stay and work for them. Glad I didn't pay for this story.
Profile Image for Aaron Beecroft.
6 reviews
December 1, 2017
Non existent character depth, an unlikeable protagonist, laughable understanding of basic police investigation, a whodunit where the answer is whocares. I only kept reading hoping there was some sort of twist that would partially redeem the inanity. I was wrong.

There are more well drawn characters and better written mysteries in any random Babysitters’ Club book.
Profile Image for Randi A.
814 reviews
December 21, 2017
this is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever read in my life, and I don't say that lightly. even if it's free, it's NOT worth it.
Profile Image for Annemiek.
108 reviews53 followers
April 7, 2022
I didn't finish this book due to the horrible writing. The story sounded okay to me and would have been interesting to finish but I just got so annoyed by the 'he said, she said' in every sentence.
796 reviews5 followers
September 18, 2017
Mediocre at best

The storyline was really dragging and very boring. i just wanted to slap Olivia for being so naive.The storyline goes from sappy to ridiculous. The crime was solved with very little in the way of clues.
Profile Image for Jason.
48 reviews18 followers
August 25, 2017
Here is a typical exchange in this book all on one page.

"Thank God this is over," he said. But it's not over, she kept thinking. "...we're leaving now, it's over." he said. "But it's not over," she replied.

That should give you an idea of the writing style. The book is short (111 pages) and if you removed all the repetitive dialogue it would be half that. This exchange "How long were you dating before you got engaged?"/"Five months."/"FIVE months?! Isn't that kind of short?" is written no less than 15 times all with in the first half of the book.

The story is nothing exceptional and the plot relies on the heroine (Olivia) being extremely smart while literally all the other characters are idiots. In fact, not one other person is nice to her for no reason. The cops do little-to-no actual work so that in the end (after a complete Scooby-doo like confession and a literal deus ex machina) they offer her a job as a cop even though she a) lives in NYC and b) has no background in criminal justice.

While the book is a quick read and I was genuinely interested in the resolution if only to see how it would all tie together (it barely does) the entire book is poorly written and just plain dumb. You can see every twist coming from a mile away (especially the *gasp* GAY character :eyeroll: which is a literary device from decades ago) and the characters are all one-dimensional.

Plus there is a HUGE plot mistake in the last chapter involving a suit and an ipad. Major plot hole. Very sloppy.

Read it if it's free but don't expect much.
Profile Image for Share.
610 reviews6 followers
June 22, 2021
Augh. I don't even know why I finished it. Okay, I do. I don't like to DNF anything.

The storyline was so unbelievable I had to laugh. Yes I love a good mystery, even a cozy mystery but this was just too much. The characters were all idiots. AS IF Olivia is going to venture off in a strange town and solve a mystery and then have the police congratulate her...bahahahahaa....

Her mom and her sister were BRUTAL. Her now dead fiance was a douche. The cops are stupid. And okay, give me a break...she conveniently figures out his laptop password? lol...just like that...and of course the password has no uppercase letter, no symbols and is only four letters. Or better yet, Todd has photos on his desk of numerous women? bahahahahaaa okay. Almost funnier than when she was able to sneak into his work, open up his laptop and email and read it all. The email where he is threatened to watch himself or he could end up dead was the best. AS IF someone would put that in an email. bahahahahaa!!!

I chose this book because it takes place in the Florida Keys. I LOVE the Florida Keys but I am wondering if the author has ever actually been there because there was very little to describe about the Keys and when she did describe something, it was not really the Keys.

I give this 1.5 stars but I will be generous and round up to 2.
9 reviews
August 14, 2017
This was sort of like a Nancy Drew mystery but not as good

This was really not worth the time. I'm glad it was free on Bookbub. Simplistic, poorly written, poorly developed and again, a waste of time.
Profile Image for Brandy.
15 reviews2 followers
August 20, 2017
So glad I didn't spend money on this book. Features horrible, superficial characters and a weak, pathetic protagonist. I couldn't get beyond a quarter of the book. The write-ups spoke of the "strong female protagonists" that feature in all of this authors writing, but not that I saw.
2 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2017
Complete waste of time. How did this come up as a recommendation for me to read? Poorly written, idiotic characters. I couldn't believe that this was actually a published book!
Profile Image for Wonda.
1,146 reviews9 followers
March 9, 2023
Again, another one that just didn't work out due to the choppy writing style.
Profile Image for Shelley.
1,246 reviews
June 20, 2018
If I could give this book a minus rating, I would! This was right up there, close to the top, if not the #1 in, one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire 52 year's.

Recommended by one of the woman in my book club, who happens to never read any books we read, except for one in the year since she's joined us. Last month she asked us, "Why don't you read any books I like reading?" She hardly reads, so it's not like we were purposely excluding her. She told us she just finished reading "No Place to Die" and she loved it, and was already on the second books in the series.

I tried ordering it through our library because that's where I get all my books for book club, and they didn't have any of them in the series. I can see why now! It was the first time I've read a book on our iPad (I still prefer having a book in my hands over a iPad). I ordered it through Amazon, where the first book is free. Now after reading it, I'm asking myself, do I really have to pay for the others? (There's another 3!) I have to actually fork out money to pay for crappy writing, crappy characters, for something that is so god awful that shouldn't even be in print? Ahhhhhh!!!!

Only 111 pages, I read this book quickly, over 2 days. I don't know what I would have done if it was longer.

So, let's get to the story. I knew right away there was something off between Todd and Olivia's relationship. It wasn't hard to see.

It takes place in Key West. I've been there. It's lovely. It's gorgeous. Reading the summary of the story sounded interesting, especially because I've been there. That is until I opened to the first page, to the first sentence and I knew I was in trouble. I got to the end of the first paragraph, and I thought, "Oh No! This writer can't write! It's even worst than a light beach read", which I can't stand!

It is very difficult to not be so harsh, but goodness, the writing is so poorly done. Besides it being just rotten writing, the reader is told umpteem times how gorgeous of a couple Olivia and Todd are, how could they be engaged only after 5 months together? I was rolling my eyes. It's shocking to see Jayden Skye has many other books in other series. I honestly don't know how she was ever published.

Spoiler Alert:

The characters are all so dumb, and extra mean (not Olivia, she doesn't have a back bone in her body). The dialogues between the characters: that's not how people talk to one another. I can't tell you how many times my mouth gaped open in shock, or I laughing out loud, at how it was so ridiculous and stupid. Olivia, the main character who wanted to get to the bottom of how her fiancee died, suddenly becomes a detective, with no detective skills or background. Plus she has the cooperation from one detective to figure out who done it. The cops are bullies and stupid, who want to pin the killer onto whoever, without doing much investigation work.

I gave a brief outline of the story line to my 20 year old son, and I would read off lines to him, and we'd crack up. There are a zillion lines in this book that are just so wrong, but I've been working on this for the last hour and I'm just done.

So upon telling you all how much I detest this book, I will certainly never voice my true thoughts to our dear friend.

As to the police telling Olivia that she did such a super job solving the mystery that they've offered her a job with the force, hahahaha LOL.

I'm sure you've figured out my recommendation for this book: skip it!


Profile Image for Helen.
19 reviews
May 14, 2019
So painfully and unbelievably primitive and predictable. Even though I did not read it through, only read the beginning and the end (to read the actual conclusion) but it was a total waste of my time :( It’s actually sad, because I don’t like not to like a book.
Profile Image for Kate Schultz.
130 reviews
February 16, 2018
I have no idea how this book got so many good ratings. I guess if you're not expecting much, you'll be happy. The book is full of cliches and terribly written dialogue. I wonder if the author had ever heard human beings speak natural dialogue. The main character is a stereotypical Mary Jane --she's beautiful, smart, funny, successful, and, to no one's surprise, an amazing detective. Characters' behaviors come out of no where, dialogue doesn't follow what was said before, the author tells you everything, and shows nothing, and there are a number of completely unbelievable events. Some people might not mind, and say these are just details, but a good book is made in the details. This reads like a terrible first draft I would receive from one of my high school Creative Writing students who had never written a fiction story before--complete with typos and all.
Profile Image for AXJ.
326 reviews6 followers
November 24, 2017
This book kept my interest and then the ending happened - and it was a let down. The worst part is how she “solved” (in quotations because I use that word loosely here) her fiancés murder and then the police department wanted to hire her as a detective lol. Sure.
Profile Image for Jodie.
359 reviews5 followers
August 21, 2017
Predictable but still a good read.
Profile Image for Serena.
961 reviews20 followers
February 13, 2019
I solved the mystery the second I realized the guy was dying
Profile Image for Jéssica Serra.
256 reviews60 followers
December 26, 2019
2,5✨ | Esta história apresenta-nos Olivia e Todd, um casal que se conhece há relativamente pouco tempo mas que aparentemente tem uma relação incrível e, por isso mesmo, vai passar um fim de semana a Key West. Olivia tem uma expectativa enorme relativamente a ser ou não pedida em casamento, expectativa essa que acaba devido à morte de Todd aparentemente sem explicação. Assim, o livro foca-se precisamente em tentar perceber quem matou Todd.

Ao longo do livro surgem diversos possíveis suspeitos e isso fez com que duvidasse dessas mesmas personagens, mas fiquei boquiaberta com a revelação final. Para mim, este foi o ponto forte deste livro.

Como é relativamente pequeno e explorou maioritariamente a investigação do homicídio, as personagens, principalmente Olivia, não foram muito exploradas e acabamos por conhecê-las bastante superficialmente. Acompanhamos sempre Olivia e a sua luta por provar que não é a culpada. A mãe e irmã de Olivia apareceram a dada altura na história, mas foram completamente irrelevantes na mesma. A família de Todd, por seu lado, apenas implicava com absolutamente tudo o que acontecia e isso enervou-me profundamente. Os polícias, bem, andaram a maior parte do tempo sem saber bem por onde ir, mas no fim encontraram o verdadeiro culpado com a ajuda de uma personagem fundamental para esta revelação.

Não considero que seja um livro incrível. No entanto, é muito breve e lê-se com muita facilidade. É uma história boa para quem gosta de livros leves e sem grande complexidade.
Profile Image for Jane.
Author 6 books89 followers
March 1, 2019
On a visit to Key West, Olivia and Todd started a romantic weekend with a great dinner, a walk on the beach, a proposal and acceptance with more surprises in store for Olivia. One neither of them expected was Olivia waking up to Todd in great pain, a trip to the emergency room and him dead in a matter of hours.

Olivia is stunned, heart broken and in shock when his family arrives and accuses her of being a 'one night stand' and much more. She sets out on a quest to find out what happened to Todd because Key West is No Place to Die. The quest leads her to find that the Todd she knew and loved was not anything like what she thought he was in his love life, his business and everything about him turns up a giant lie. She needs closure so she continues to search for answers, help an innocent man that is in jail under suspicion and so much more making No Place to Die a murder mystery set in beautiful Key West, Florida a great read.
Profile Image for Neerja.
508 reviews2 followers
December 1, 2020
A murder mystery with an interesting setting. This story is about this girl named Olivia who leads an almost perfect life with her boyfriend but tragedy strikes her on the day of her engagement. In an instant, her world is turned upside down by an unfortunate event.

I liked the premise of the story but the characterization of Olivia was just okay for me. I wasn't a fan of her and didn't much care what happened to her. I felt she wasn't good at making choices and at times the story felt kind of just okay to me.

The mystery element of it kept me reading as I was curious to know who did it. It wasn't a bad story but a light and fun story.

It was a shorter story and since I listened to it in audiobook version, I flew through the whole book quickly. I enjoyed the story and it was a good time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 225 reviews

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