Lauren Riley is a thirty-eight-year-old twice-divorced mother of two college age daughters, working cold case homicides. She has a great, younger cold case partner, Reese, and carries a torch for her ex-husband, Mark. Meanwhile, her ex, Joe Wheeler, is a Garden Valley homicide detective and a total (excuse my language) a-hole, who brazenly punches Lauren in the mouth after learning she's working against him on a case. Lauren's working two jobs -- her daytime gig on cold cases and also as a certified Private Investigator (PI). Lauren is hired by her nemesis, attorney Frank Violanti, to work the high-profile case of David, who is accused of murdering Katherine Vine, the beautiful, younger wife of Anthony Vine, who runs a successful chain of gyms. Lauren knows taking the case could stir up some issues in her department, with the DA, and with Reese. But in her gut, she feels that David is innocent. Can she and Frank make peace and prove it?

I read a lot of mysteries and while there are thankfully more strong female detectives coming on the scene (see Kristen Lepionka's Roxanne Weary and Emily Littlejohn's Gemma Monroe, for instance), they are still few and far between. While Lauren Riley may still be finding herself (there's a lot of side coverage of emotional entanglements and relationships here), I still love finding and championing a complicated, real, strong female detective.

Lauren's PI case is really the star of the show, and it's interesting and engaging throughout the entire novel. It keeps you guessing throughout, questioning whether David did it or not, and who else played a key role in Katherine and Anthony Vine lives. Nothing is cut or dried.

Also fascinating is Lauren's main cold case. While you could argue some of it ties up neatly, it doesn't go as expected, per se, if that makes sense, and the characters involved are intriguing and different. All the cases kept me interested as I read. A lot certainly happens in this novel, between Lauren's work and personal life. Nothing is boring, and there's never really a dull moment, especially once you get into the swing of things and realize that the book covers both her personal life and her work life in-depth. It also tells the story from more than Lauren's POV, even if she's the main focus, which works surprisingly well.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the book culminates in a trial related to Lauren's PI case, and it's a great, suspenseful, incredibly well-written piece of work. The courtroom scenes were so well-done and really had me on the edge of my seat. One of the things I loved about this novel was how I could so easily picture each of these characters-- each is well-described and fleshed out. Redmond writes darn good trial scenes (and a darn good book), and I was frantically flipping the pages to see how things would turn out.

It wasn't until I finished the book that I learned the author is a retired homicide detective, but it definitely shows as you read. The novel is written expertly in terms of police and courtroom procedure, but still enjoyable in terms of the characters. There is a lot of personal "stuff" in terms of Lauren; this will be a little different if you are used to the Bosch type of detective (the love of my life and my hero). Still, it's completely refreshing to see a complicated female lead detective, and, as mentioned, so nice to be reading more of these stories. I grew to really love Lauren.

The courtroom scenes are great, and a lot will keep you guessing. Sure, some of the cold cases wrap up what seem a little easily, but even Lauren addresses that as she works. I read some reviews that Joe Wheeler is a cliche character, and I guess I could see where people get that, but for me, society as of late seems to be showing us everyday that these sort of angry, abusive men truly exist. Everywhere. To me, Joe was a sadly realistic portrayal of a horrible man, and his slow, boiling anger only added to the tension of the entire novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It looks like it's going to be a series, and it ends with some unfinished issues that make me even more eager for book two.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher/author for a free copy of A COLD DAY IN HELL in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this book had it all! Lauren Riley is a cold case detective with a PI license. When an attorney on the opposite side asks her to investigate a case, she finds it hits a little too close to home, for both her and her new employer. She works to juggle her day job with the side job. The results? A web of danger, conflict and unexpected challenges stand in her way of discovering the truth.

This book was a thrilling read, as it covered multiple cold cases , past relationships, potential new relationships, and a court case for murder. I loved Lauren's authenticity and candid approach as she attacked all her responsibilities head on. If you are a fan of murder mysteries or legal thrillers, this book will be a great addition to your to be read list!

A Cold Day in Hell by Lisa Marie Redmond is the first book book written by this author . This could very well become a great series. Great police and court procedures.
Lauren Riley is a twice divorced cold case detective .A defense attorney that she does not trust is tring to hire her to investigate a murder that an 18 year old boy is accused of. The deeper Lauren digs the more she finds out the more she wonders why she took this case!
A great read ! Hopefully there will be more.

3 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. It takes place in Buffalo, NY. I grew up in Buffalo and still live in Western NY. The descriptions of Buffalo and surroundings are authentic. But the book ends with a major cliffhanger, forcing the reader to buy the next book in the series(expected 2019, according to author bio).
The book has two major plots:
Lauren Riley is a cold case detective with the Buffalo Police Department. She and her partner, Shane Reese are working on a murder that remains unsolved for over 20 years.
The second plot involves Lauren taking on a case in her off duty time as a private investigator. She agrees to work for a defense attorney Frank Violanti. She despises Violanti because of some very nasty questions he has asked her as a witness. She only agrees to take the case because she feels his client, Violanti's godson, might be innocent and a $10,000 fee.
One of these 2 plots is resolved and the other is not at the end of the book. Two subplots also remain unresolved.
I may or may not read book 2 in the series. Thanks to NetGalley, Midnight Ink and Lissa Marie Redmond for sending me this ebook.

A fantastic beginning to what should prove to be an interesting and exciting series. Serving as a private investigator on a current case while working as a detective on cold cases keeps this single mother busy. Her past also causes conflicts. I am eager to read the next one.. I appreciated the "G" - "PG" rating concerning language and intimate sexual details. Nice to see this type of story can be written without foul language, etc.

This debut mystery stars a cold case detective in Buffalo, NY. A defense lawyer that she loathes, Frank Violanti, hires her as a investigator on a murder charge of an 18 year old teen. “She was disturbed by the genuine display of emotion he was putting on. It threatened the delicate balance that they had struck between hate and disgust for each other.” Her relationship with Violanti was one of the best things about the book.

Lauren is a good detective and I appreciated her investigative acumen (although she gets a lot of leads handed to her).

Then there’s the police officer that made the arrest. He was her physically abusive ex-boyfriend. He’s a bit of a cliche in my mind. But he did provide a nice creep factor.

This book moves along at a steady pace through most of the first ⅔s. A lot of time seems spent in giving the characters some background and depth. At times I felt it could use a little more oomph. This is a decent book but nothing great. Fair warning, this book ends with both a cliff hanger and what I considered a key plot point left dangling.

My thanks to netgalley and Midnight Ink for an advance copy of this book.

Review Posted on Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read Blog on January 12, 2018.
3.5 stars
Redmond does weave an interesting tale, and there is some suspense, but the story is more procedural and courtroom drama than anything else. I do have to say that the writing style and flow kept the courtroom scenes engaging and dramatic. Our main character, Lauren Riley, has quite the reputation as a detective, but she certainly is not without flaws, particularly in her personal life. In many cases, that can make for the most intriguing characters, and I have to say that it does work for this one. Some scene descriptions get a bit tedious, but there is some great dialogue. I especially enjoyed the banter between Lauren and Frank, who are so used to being on opposite sides of a case that they can't let it go. While the primary focus of the story is the murder trial, there is a bit of side story by way of a 28 year old murder case. All in all, the story did hold my interest, but it felt like the cold case was solved a little too quickly, and the suspense aspect surrounding the murder trial was cut short by a "mystery" that was just too easy to figure out. The story does get chilling at the very end and even hints at a promising thriller, so I'll be interested to see if there's a next book addressing that part of the tale.

A Cold Day in Hell by Lissa Marie Redmond, is the first installment in A Cold Case Investigation series. The protagonist in the series is Lauren Riley, an accomplished detective who excels in clearing cold cases. Lauren is generally on the side of the prosecution, but when a defense lawyer, Frank Violanti, asks her to help with a murder case he is working on, she finds herself accepting the job, even though she loathes Violanti. After meeting the 18 year-old suspect, who is Violanti’s God-son, she is convinced he isn’t guilty, so agrees to help; she doesn’t want an innocent teen to go to prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Her decision to help investigate isn’t popular with her boss, and her job is in jeopardy.

Lauren doesn’t make good personal decisions when it comes to husbands and boyfriends, and her relationships are hindering her work on the case. One previous fiancé is stalking her, and her life is in danger in a few scenarios.

Redmond is an excellent storyteller; readers will be hooked after the first chapter, and will have difficulty putting the novel down. She does an excellent job of developing her characters, and they are believable. Redmond is a retired detective, so knows courtroom procedure as well as investigative protocol, so the scenarios are definitely credible. Suspense builds from the beginning, and doesn’t stop until the last page. The dénouement is, of course surprising, and there are a few issues left hanging which, it is assumed, will be part of the next installment of the series.

While all review copies have a few spelling and other small errors that are generally corrected before the final copies are published, this novel has a dozen or so blatant grammatical errors that will make readers wish Redmond would take a class in Grammar 101; for instance, “Her and that partner of hers.” (She and that partner of hers), “There has only been two…” (There have only been two…), and “Her and Reese” (She and Reese). There are also several places where whom should have been used for who. While these errors are no reason to skip this novel, they are a bit irritating and hopefully will be fixed prior to the final publishing.

Even though A Cold Day in Hell isn’t perfect, it is an excellent and very suspenseful novel. The courtroom scenes are riveting, things are not as they appear, and Lauren is a great character. Readers who are looking for a novel full of suspense will enjoy this novel and have trouble waiting for the next installment in the series.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This was a quick and entertaining read. I was surprised that this is the author's first novel. It is a very good police procedural, including the courtroom drama. I liked (most of) the main characters, and I hope this is a new series and we hear more. I recommend this book.

Lauren Riley is a police detective who works cold cases with her partner Reese. She is also a private investigator. When Frank Violanti, a defense attorney who has always been her opponent in the courtroom, wants to hire her to investigate a crime his client is accused of, she doesn't want to work with him. However, when she meets David Spencer she sees a clean-cut, good-looking eighteen-year-old who arouses her sympathy. He has been accused of murdering Katherine Vine who was last seen with him.

Katherine is the wife of Anthony Vine who is famous in Buffalo for the series of gyms he owns and the ads he makes for them. In the course of the investigation we learn that Vine is having an affair with a tennis pro and is a controlling husband who placed a tracker on Katherine's car and calls or texts her more than 20 times a day. He looks like a more likely suspect than a kid who only knew Katherine because she frequently shopped at the toy store where he worked. However, as she continues her investigation, questions arise about what David is really like too.

Riley is also working on some cold cases while investigating for Violanti. She is approached by the daughter of a woman who was murdered in 1993 and begins to look into that case. She is also reopens another murder case when the current abused wife comes in and tells her that her husband confessed that he killed his first wife to clear the way for her. Each of those cases has a different but realistic resolution.

Meanwhile, in her personal life, an abusive ex-boyfriend who also happens to be the investigator in David Spencer's case has put Riley back on his radar and is stalking her. And she has resumed an affair with her latest ex-husband who has remarried and had a child. Riley is a complex character who has bad taste in men. She seems to always pick cheaters or losers in one way or another. Her personal life is a stark contrast to professional life where she is frequently successful and well-respected.

I enjoyed watching this police procedural develop and was somewhat surprised by the twist at the end though it was foreshadowed. Fans of police procedurals with complex female main characters will enjoy this book.

A Fair Read With A Few Flaws

The novel opens with Detective Lauren Riley with her partner, detective Shane Reese, one team of the Buffalo Police Department (PD) Cold Case section. Lauren is visited by Frank Violanti, a lawyer that she has had several very adversarial encounters in court. Despite their mutual animosity, he is asking for her help as a private investigator for the case of his high school godson, David Spencer, who had just been arrested for murder. While the murder was not within Buffalo PD jurisdiction, the District Attorney (DA) is the same. Lauren Riley does not have the best of relationships with the DA. If she accepts the job, she will need to walk a tightrope so as not to create problems in her PD job. There is a concurrent second main storyline. Lauren receives a call from the daughter of a woman murdered outside a bar in 1993 years earlier asking for the status. Lauren and Shane start investigating this case. The storylines proceed from here. Both main storylines proceed realistically with the starts, stops, misdirections and twists in trying to seek the truth. It did keep my interest but really did not capture my interest.

The B-storyline is quite rich and well woven into the main storyline. There is professional relationship between her and her partner. She has two children, currently in college, by ex-husband with whom she has a love-hate relationship. Then, there is Joe Wheeler, the lead detective on the David Spencer murder case, who was in the police academy with Lauren. After her abandonment by her husband, she struck up a relationship with Joe that ended quickly because of his physical abuse. Much of the Lauren’s character is revealed in a very natural way. All of these work into the main story and support it in a major way.

There are some sex scenes but not graphic. Most violence was described in the past, except for one incident. There are a few f-bombs and other lesser vulgar language that was appropriate for the situations and was not excessive in my opinion.

As I have written above, there is much that I liked in this novel. The story was good and kept my interest, but there are three things that distracted from the novel. The heroine, Lauren, was portrayed as a strong, competent detective, and an independent woman. Her weakness was her first husband. Now, there are people who become irrational when it comes to their love life, but this characteristic did not seem consistent with the rest of her personality. I am sure it was used to further the main storyline along. The second was the Joe Wheeler’s obsession with Lauren. Again, Joe Wheeler’s obsession with Lauren, while adding tension to the storyline, seemed very counterproductive for him. Lastly, there is a blatant lead in for the next novel at the end of this one. For me, this should be the beginning of the next novel. If the author or publishing house wants to wet potential reader’s appetite, then have the first chapter of the next novel at the end of this novel.

Overall, this book did keep my interest but did not capture it. That with what I feel are inconsistencies in in the character of the heroine and Joe Wheeler, I give this novel a three star rating, possibly three and a half stars.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Midnight Ink with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Midnight Ink for the opportunity to read this novel early.

well you can definitely tell that this author has experienced real police work and investigated real cases. There is an authenticity to the story - and that's what makes it so chilling.
The protagonists back story is presented to the reader in a bit of a perfunctory way, much like presenting evidence, which didn't flow that well.
Also, the female best friend, the daughters and the partners needed a bit more fleshing out.
However, the story is fast-paced and engaging. A good read.

very interesting read, couldn't keep my hands down, recommended to people of all ages.

Cold case detective Lauren Riley is approached by defense lawyer Frank Violanti, he wants to hire her as a PI to ingestigate the murder of a married woman. His godson has been arrested and charged with her murder. Against her better judgement she takes the case. Lissa Marie Remonds experience as a retired detective shines through. Brilliant read with enough twists and turns you will not be sure were the story will end. Highly recommend!

How does one handle a full time job as a cold case detective while during off hours work for a defense attorney who is not really your favorite? Lauren Riley takes on the challenge and agrees to seek information to clear attorney Violanti's godson, accused of the murder of Katherine Vine, to save him from a life in prison. It's not always easy as well as dealing with the hostility of her fellow officers for taking on the investigative work. The author develops a interesting group of characters while creating a procedural thriller that will keep you on your toes till the last page of the book.

I found this book to be an easy, entertaining read and I was satisfied with the twist at the end. Looking forward to reading the next one!

Absolutely brilliant. Fast moving, the main characters are a great foil for each other. Keeps you guessing the whole way through - one of the best crime novels I have read in a long time. Looking forward to book 2!

I received this book from Netgalley. I enjoy a good crime drama and on the whole this one fitted the bill.

I found a lot of the references overly American with me having to make guesses as to the meaning.

The original premise for the murder around which this story is based never really made any sense and was weak from the outset, it was a situation that really seemed so out of character for the murder victim.

At times I found the story line trite, most especially in relation to the domestic abuse faced by Lauren Riley. Again the first blow the reader witnesses seemed an unreal situation all round.

I found the storyline to be reasonably compelling and the characters were well drawn. A lot of research had obviously been done and I think the author has some experience within the police force.The relationships and the conversations within in the relationships, outside of the professional ones were however hard to really believe in.

I believe this to be Lissa Marie Redmond's first novel and I am sure that she will produce even better novels than this one in time.

Fantastic murder mystery/thriller! This was great, intriguing and intense story. Really solid suspenseful plot that kept you guessing till the last page! It had a little angsty romance too! I really enjoyed it and it’s hard to believe this is her debut book! Awesome job!

With most whodunnits there is the satisfaction at the end of knowing the wrongdoer has been unmasked, then convicted, the innocent saved from the needle.

But what if the reality proves to be so much more messy that that? Suppose vested interests win, success are attained - but the justice system and human perception and Intuition are flawed?

When the hero, Lauren Riley, agrees to help arch-enemy attorney Violanti save his innocent teenage godson from a death sentence conviction, Riley is less-than willing at first. But the convicted is just a boy......

I found it interesting that the convicted is definitely perceived as adolescent - not yet adult. Laurwn's daughter too is treated legally as a child.

Detective Riley meanwhile is depicted as strong, yet vulnerable. - and definitely flawed. Her personal life is not perfect and she tends to mess up. One of her cop exes used to beat her - and still does in a confrontation. Life can be far tougher for those women who wish to prove themselves.

So there is a lot of gritty realIsm to bear in the telling of the tale. And reality can have a way of bringing up nasty surprises. This novel truly confronts the reader with a cold day in hell at the end.

I would recommend this to those who have less time for fairy-tale endings when enjoying crime fiction.