Elmhurst Books LLC
374 Pages
I was casually looking through a website that I use to look up authors and books, I ran across a page for Lissa Marie Redmond. The first line of her bio said she was from Buffalo and the thrillers that she wrote were set in the Queen City. Obviously, since I live just north of Buffalo, I had to grab her first book and check it out. I am very glad I did. There’s just something special about a book with local flair.
Lauren Riley is a detective in the Buffalo Police Department who works cold cases. She has a notebook filled with details from murders in Buffalo that have yet to be solved. Her nemesis, Frank Violanti, is a shady defense attorney. They’ve squared off in the courtroom often over the years. It is, therefore, surprising when Violanti approached Lauren with a request for a favor. He wants to hire her to be a private investigator in a case involving one of his clients.
His client is an eighteen-year-old man that Violanti truly believes is innocent. After Lauren first meets him, she, too, believes in his innocence. Ever a soldier for helping those in need, Lauren takes the job despite her misgivings about Violanti. As she delves deeper into the case, she finds more inconsistencies and troubling occurrences. In the middle of it all, she suddenly has a stalker. What is going on with this case? Who is watching her?
Lissa Marie Redmond was a cold case detective with the Buffalo Police Department in her life outside of writing. She brings a unique perspective to the novel as she has actually worked on cold cases like her main character does. She can explain the inner workings of the mind of a police officer. She delivers a powerful crime mystery that you can’t help but want to read straight through.
The action is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat as you follow Lauren through the trials and tribulations of her investigation. There are moments you want to scream to the characters on the page because it all seems so obvious, only to be thrown for a loop when more is revealed. You won’t want to stop reading this book. A Cold Day in Hell also delivers a local flair that many of us from Western New York can identify. That makes it even more fun to read. Give this book a chance. Lissa Marie Redmond will not disappoint you.
Craig Bacon loves mysteries and thrillers. Even more, he likes books that are set locally. It makes it that much more interesting to read. “Hey! I’ve been there!”