Tivo Rodriguez
Tivo Rodriguez is the creator & writer of Erie County Comics, a independent comic book line based out of Amherst, N.Y. Using ideas & concepts from life in the Western New York, Tivo has worked in conjunction with the owners of Queen City Comics, (one of the longest running comic book stores in the Buffalo area) and has produced several titles with a slew of fascinating characters such as Rustbelt, Roller Queen, Kennington Bailey, the Courier, Bubble Man, & the Woman in White.
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To date the titles Rustbelt, Roller Queen, & Erie County Comics Presents are available and Tivo has been also been able to produce merchandise for fans to enjoy, including but not limited to; tees, sneakers, women's panties, and coffee mugs among other items.
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Tivo has hosted signing events at local comic conventions and Queen City Comic Books, located on Main Street in University Heights.
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Not to show a lack of a sense of humor, with a touch of nostalga for Generation X, Tivo has created a series of mock up products that didn't really exist, but are based on real merchandise kids of the 70s & 80s had such as lunchboxes, Underroos, & Atari 2600 video games with his characters all over them.
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To learn more or contact Tivo & E.C. Comics a link has been placed below
Lissa Marie Redmond
Lissa Redmond is originally form the small, industrial neighborhood of Woodlawn, NY, just south of Buffalo, NY, and sandwiched in-between the Ford Stamping Plant & the Bethlehem Steel Plant in neighboring Lackawanna, NY. When studying at the University of Buffalo, Lissa took & passed the exams to become a Buffalo Police Officer, where she met her future father-in-law, a superior officer, who asked her to go out undercover on the prostitution sting busts as a hooker. In time Lissa passed the detectives' test and worked her way up to the S.O.S. Unit, (Sex Offense Squad), then transferred to the Cold Case Unit, where she helped make history.
On January 15th, 2007, Lissa & the task force she was assigned too, arrested Altemio Sanchez, a.k.a. The Bikepath Killer/Rapist. Sanchez is known to have murdered and/or raped at least three women, and raped between 9-15 girls and women in and around Buffalo, New York, during a 25-year span from 1981–2006. On May 16, 2007, Sanchez pleaded guilty to the murders of Linda Yalem, Majane Mazur and Joan Diver.
In 2007 Lissa & her unit cleared Anthony Capozzi and he was freed from state prison after serving 22 years for two rapes with a similar modus operandi. After the arrest of Sanchez, investigators realized that the crimes were similar and took place in the same area, and that Sanchez and Capozzi closely resembled each other at the time the crimes were committed.
After a twenty-two year career, Lissa retired to handle her husband, a fellow detective, their two kids & an ungrateful cat. And begin a writing career.
A Cold Day In Hell is Lissa's first novel in her Cold Case series, and I admit fully I had a very hard time putting it down.
​Right from the beginning it's a compelling story, that draws in the reader and I admit I've become emotionally invested in Cold Case Detective & P.I. Lauren Riley, and I look forward to future books in the series.
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In Cold Day, Riley is hired by her nemesis, defense attorney Frank Violanti, to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case―until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect. To keep her client out of prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt lurks on every corner . . . and so does her stalker.
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A Cold Day... was the beginning of a three-book story arch, with each book being a self-contained story/mystery, but led to final showdown with Lauren's stalker. Afterwards Lissa's next two Cold Case novels took Lauren international with the crimes beginning in the Buffalo, NY region, but in-between she wrote The Secrets Left Behind, which is a stand-alone mystery, featuring BPD officer, Shea O'Connor, who is assigned to a small college town where three freshmen have disappeared and she must work with the local Chief of Police to learn the truth.
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I'm unsure if Lissa has any future plans/story ideas for Officer O'Connor, but personally as a fan I wouldn't mind seeing her come back in a sequel or perhaps brought in in some fashion in a Lauren Reiley/Cold Case novel, thus creating a 'shared universe'. Personally, I'm a fan of shared universes & Easter eggs and wouldn't mind seeing this happen, perhaps with Lauren becoming a mentor to Shea in some fashion. Just a thought.
In Catch Your Death, Lissa returns to Lauren and a seventeen-year-old cold case connected to her partner. But as a fresh murder unfolds at a newly opened resort, Buffalo is hit by one of its legendary lakefront snowstorms—so severe it shuts down the region for days, burying everything in feet of snow. Now trapped in the hotel with a killer, Lauren must unravel the mystery, all while questioning just how entangled her partner might be.
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I have to admit, as much as I’ve enjoyed Lissa’s other novels and have followed her work since 2018, Catch Your Death is my personal favorite. It embraces the classic murder mystery trope, something I’ve always loved. As a devoted fan of Agatha Christie, especially her two legendary detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple (though I’m Team Hercule all the way—LOL), I’ve always admired Christie’s mastery of suspense.
While Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Sparkling Cyanide, Thirteen at Dinner, and The Mirror Crack’d are all brilliant, many consider Ten Little Indians (And Then There Were None) to be Christie’s greatest work. Whether intentional or not, Lissa’s storytelling in Catch Your Death closely echoes the intrigue and structure of Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Ten Little Indians, making it a thrilling read for classic mystery lovers.
Lissa masterfully weaves elements from both classic mysteries, deepening the suspense. The isolation, the inaccessibility of help, and the presence of a killer, all set against the backdrop of an investigation spanning nearly two decades, create not just a compelling story—but a chilling, inescapable nightmare.
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Here is a link to Lissa's website to learn more about her, her works, & find out were to order her books.