Today I’m delighted to feature author TM Payne (Tina). Tina is the best-selling author of the D.I. Sheridan Holler series, set in Liverpool and the Wirral. Her debut novel, Long Time Dead was published in April 2024 and went to number one in Crime Fiction in both the UK and Germany.
The second book in the series, This Ends Now was published in October 2024 and went to number one in the UK and Australia.
The third book, Play With Fire was published last month and fans will be delighted to know that Tina has already written book 4 in the series and is currently working on book 5.
T.M. Payne (Tina) was born in Lee on Solent, Hampshire and now lives on the Wirral with her wife, Susie, who she works closely with on her novels.
Tina has spent most of her working life in the criminal justice system, starting out as a Store Detective, before joining a private investigator agency (where she once nearly got arrested) She then became a Prisoner Custody Officer (where she carried a prisoner out of the courtroom single-handedly, when he started hallucinating butterflies)
She has worked in practically every London court, including the Old Bailey and Court of Appeal and has been handcuffed to murderers, rapists, and one of the worst sexual predators this country has ever seen. In 2001, she joined Norfolk Police as a Detention Officer, working in the custody suite, before joining the Domestic Violence Unit as a Police Case Investigator. In her 14 years in that role, she dealt with thousands of victims of domestic abuse, with one of her cases earning her a Chief Constable’s commendation.
Having left the police in 2019, Tina now writes full time.
Over to Tina :
Which five pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?
Ellie Goulding ‘How Long Will I Love You’ – before Susie and I got married, it was one of our songs and on our wedding day (having forgot to tell the registrar what music we wanted played as we walked in) I was standing, waiting for Susie to walk down the aisle and as she came in, this song came on. Susie thought I’d arranged it and she was very impressed with me. I did own up afterwards, even though I was very tempted to take the credit.
Chris De Burgh ‘Spanish Train’ – most people only really know his song, LADY IN RED, but trust me, he is a genius. I love his music, because he is such a storyteller.
Abba ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ – my mum was a huge Abba fan and she loved to dance. In 1977, she became very ill and I used to skip school to spend time with her. We’d put Abba on and dance in the living room. I didn’t realise it at the time, but we weren’t just dancing, we were making precious memories. Thanks, mum.
Adele ‘Million Years Ago’ – there’s a scene in book 2 of the DI Sheridan Holler series, ‘THIS ENDS NOW’, set on Crosby beach in Liverpool. It’s quite a haunting moment in the book and somehow this song fits it perfectly. To be fair, I love anything that Adele does.
Gayla Peevey ‘I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas’ – if this isn’t on your Christmas play list then it needs to be. Please listen to it and if you don’t do the action of massaging a hippo in a garage, then you and I can’t be friends.
What five things (apart from family and friends) would you find it hard to live without.
Jaffa Cakes. But there is a particular way to eat them, and I have been known to debate the proper way over the years. You can’t just bite into it or put the whole thing in your mouth. This approach should result (in my opinion) in a short custodial sentence.
Bourbon. The drink, not the biscuit. Although I do like them too. Oooh, just had a thought, I might try dipping a Bourbon into my Bourbon. Back in a minute …Okay, I tried it. Doesn’t work. Stupid idea.
Animals. Anyone who knows me, knows I just adore animals. I’ve always had cats or dogs and once had a seven-legged spider who lived in my bathroom. He’d come out in the evening and sit (do spiders sit?) by the sink. He wasn’t a pet by the way, he was free to come and go as he pleased, but I think his disability may have knocked his confidence a bit, so he never left the bathroom.
Laughter. I couldn’t live without laughter. I try not to take life too seriously, we’re not here long enough to be serious about it. Find your fun and go for it.
Kindness. I know that sounds a bit ‘twee’ but I’d like to think that if we could all be a bit kinder to each other, then the planet would be a better place. And now I sound like a ‘Miss World’ contestant.
Give five pieces of advice to your younger self?
Learn to forgive Julie Flabbersnapper (Name changed to protect her identity, even though she doesn’t deserve it) after she stole your pencil case. If you’re reading this Julie, (not your real name, but you know who you are) I hope you became a better person.
Don’t listen to your grandmother when she told you that if you cross your eyes and the wind changes, you’ll stay like that. You won’t. It’s rubbish. I tried it the other day and my eyes are fine.
Don’t worry about where life takes you. You’ll be fine.
Tell those around you that you love them. Tell them every day. Twice.
Do not, at the age of eight, test out if your sister’s nightie is actually ‘Flame Retardant’ as the label claimed, while she was wearing it. Labels lie. Avoid big fat lying labels. However, not all labels lie, there are some that are honest, but stay vigilant, be smart, don’t be fooled, my friends. (My sister was fine by the way…the nightie…not so much).
Tell us five things that most people don’t know about you
Well, it would have been the time I set fire to my sister’s nightie, but now EVERYONE knows.
I am the only person in the world who knows how Jaffa Cakes should be eaten.
I once pulled an 80-year-old man out of his car, just before it caught fire.
I have an atrocious sense of direction. Which didn’t bode well when I was a bus driver. But, let’s skip over that.
Many years ago, when I was a detention officer, I once hid an abused dog in a police cell all night and got her safely re-homed. I like to think she went on to live her best life.
Tell us five things you’d still like to do or achieve.
To teach the world how Jaffa Cakes really should be eaten. Someone has to do it.
To live to at least a hundred. I love life so much and just want to keep going.
I’d love to see the Sheridan Holler series on TV. I may have a full cast list already. Not that I’ve thought about it. What?… No … I do not have a spreadsheet, that would be ridiculous.
Invite a bunch of lonely folk to my house for Christmas and see them make friends with each other. I hate the thought of anyone feeling lonely in a world so full of people. And if I can say this…I know we’re all busy and life goes at a hundred miles an hour sometimes, but if someone looks like they need a chat, please try to give them a few minutes. I saw something on social media the other day where someone was complaining about ‘old people who do their shopping at the weekend and not during the week, when it’s quieter.’ This makes me sad. There’s a reason that lonely or elderly people go out at busy times, and when they’re in front of you chatting to the checkout staff, please think…this might be the only person they talk to that day, that week even. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind and we should all remember that not everyone has someone.
To find Julie Flabbersnapper and get my pencil case back.
Many thanks for joining me today Tina, it’s been a pleasure. You brought fabulous music choices with you, as I admitted to you previously I used to have an obsession with Chris de Burgh so hearing Soanish Train brought back memories. I’m also a big ABBA fan, so they’re always welcome. Unfortunately for my OH it’s the hippopotamus that’s this weeks earworm so it’s driving him mad! I really think we need a demo on the correct way to eat a Jaffa cake as this is clearly something that’s very important to you, I’ll happily post the video if you’re willing? And it would be fun! Does Julie Flabbersnapper, deserve forgiveness, because it’s clearly still a traumatic subject for you, maybe some restorative justice might be in order should she ever appear. It would be funny if she turns out to be a reader of yours and sees this feature. Julie, if you still have the pencil case, do the decent thing. I am assuming, on the note of forgiveness, that the nightie burning incident has been put to bed (if you’ll excuse the pun). That said my sister is visiting this weekend and I’ll be biting my tongue not to mention the fact ‘Jacko’ had to be thrown out after she left him out in the rain. Amazing how I can’t remember what I did yesterday but hold on to that little grudge for 60 years. I sincerely hope you get to see the Sheridan Holler series on TV, just so you can produce that spreadsheet that doesn’t exist.
Tina’s Books
(NB This post features Affiliate links from which I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases)
Long Time Dead #1
DI Sheridan Holler is used to solving crimes on Liverpool’s streets, but after a decayed corpse turns up in a cemetery, she finds herself reopening not one but two cold cases. Seven years earlier, two women were gunned down and the only suspect, small-time drug dealer John Lively, was never seen again. Case closed. Until the body in the cemetery is identified as his.
Holler needs to work out if Lively was killed out of revenge, or was just a victim of the criminal world he inhabited. When shocking evidence is revealed about the murder weapon, Holler’s cold case starts to look hopeless once more.
But defeat is not an option. Driven by the unsolved and traumatic murder of her brother when they were children, DI Holler’s pursuit of justice is relentless. As old wounds are reopened, the police close in on the killer, but the threat of them striking again is all too real. Can DI Holler put the pieces of the puzzle together before anyone else winds up dead?
This Ends Now #2
In Liverpool, a woman inexplicably leaps to her death. The following morning, two bodies are found on nearby Crosby Beach: a woman tied to a statue, and a man buried up to his neck and left to drown.
When a nine-month-old murder case is reopened, DI Sheridan Holler is shocked to uncover family connections between the victim, Daniel Parks, and the three unexplained deaths. With Daniel’s body still missing and the number-one suspect cleared of the crime, Holler’s cold case suddenly becomes a major murder investigation.
Someone seems hell-bent on destroying the Parks family—but why? And as the links between the victims become increasingly sinister, can DI Holler find who’s pulling the strings before the killer strikes again?
Play With Fire #3
All has been quiet in Liverpool, suspiciously quiet…
So, when a frantic 999 call comes into Hale Street Police Station reporting a missing woman, it seems like there’s work to do. Except for DI Sheridan Holler there are questions. Why did Caroline Crow take her purse, suitcase and even tell friends she was going away? There’s no reason to suspect foul play…until a severed, burned hand is delivered to another address.
With no hard evidence linking the two cases, Holler’s gut is telling her that all is not as it seems and if she’s right, time is running out to find Caroline alive.
As DI Holler attempts to weed out the truth from the lies, will this be one puzzle that runs out the clock? Or can Holler and her team fit the pieces together before it’s too late?
