I read and enjoyed Lissa Marie Redmond’s second Cold Case Investigation, The Murder Book. The fourth and latest one, A Full Cold Moon, is even better. However, I have to say Redmond is tough on her detectives of the Cold Case squad. Lauren Riley was knocked out of commission in the earlier one. Now, her partner, Reese, is laid-up with a work-related injury, and he and his dog, Winston, are sacked out at her house.

Buffalo police detective Lauren Riley is temporarily working Homicide while Reese is gone. Her shift should have been over when she catches a new case. Gunnar Jonsson, a visitor from Iceland, was brutally killed in an alley, just feet from his hotel. Lauren fights for this case, but Reese is the only one who understands why this case reminds her of an earlier one she’s still working. Both cases took place under a full cold moon.

This is a case with connections in two countries. Was Gunnar killed because a DNA test led him to the U.S., and a father he never knew? Before Riley even has a chance to delve deeply into the investigation, the top brass send her and an FBI agent to Iceland. They want to know if the murder involves an influential Icelandic businessman who was in the states at the time. Although Reese is convinced the killer is still in Buffalo, they send the two to another country to investigate.

The trip to Iceland throws Riley and Special Agent Matt Lawton into a culture and case in which they’re dependent on their Icelandic police connection, Detective Berg Arnason. Neither speak Icelandic, and the local police seem more interested in political issues than the murder case. Despite Berg’s laid-back manner, the search for a killer proves to be just as violent as any investigation in the U.S. When a hit-and-run driver targets the trio, it appears the case may have an unexpected Icelandic connection. There are surprises at every step of this carefully laid out police procedural.

Lissa Marie Redmond is a former cold case homicide detective for the Buffalo police department, who spent twenty-two years on the force. She brings all of her experience and knowledge to this intriguing mystery that spans two continents. While you can read A Full Cold Moon by itself, why would you want to? I suggest you start with the first Cold Case Investigation, A Cold Day in Hell. Fans of police procedurals won’t be disappointed.

Lissa Marie Redmond’s website is www.lissamarieredmond.com

A Full Cold Moon by Lissa Marie Redmond. Severn House, 2020. ISBN 9780727889874 (hardcover), 234p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review for a journal.