One Bad Deed by T.M. Payne review

About The Book

Book: One Bad Deed
Author: T.M. Payne
Standalone or Series: Book 5 in the Detective Sheridan Holler series
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date (UK): 21st July 2026

My Review

This is the fifth book in the Detective Sheridan Holler series. Whilst you can jump in anywhere, personally I’ve read book 3 then 5 with book 1 on my shelf to go, I actually wouldn’t recommend it!

Why wouldn’t I recommend jumping in here? Well, although they contain individual cases there is also a lot of backstory running through with regards to the police team, their relationships and home lives. This is brought substantially into play in this particular entry, so I would definitely recommend reading the previous for context and because of Payne’s fantastic cast and world she has crafted. They are around 400 pages and have short snappy chapters, so it’s easy to get up to speed.

The case the team is tasked with is the murder of Dennis Canning, a released prisoner who was convicted of a deadly arson attack decades ago. There’s a very focal parallel story with the team, that I don’t want to say too much about so I’ll simply quote the blurb and let you know that “a brutal attack leaves a colleague fighting for her life in hospital“.

One of my favourite elements in the Detective Sheridan Holler series is the Hale Street Police Station team. I adore how they all interact and communicate with one another. Each character is well-thought out and feels believable. I love how fiercely loyal they are to one another.

Another big draw are the short chapters, I’m happy to stop reading at any point and pop a bookmark in but you can’t beat that feeling of reaching the end of a chapter and thinking “oh go on then, just one more”!

The epilogue is a welcomed addition too. Normally when I come across epilogues in books, they are presented as an additional short chapter. Here instead there are multiple short paragraphs for multiple characters that feel more akin to a TV/film documentary style epilogue.

If you’ve read any T.M. Payne before then I really won’t need to convince you to pick this up as I imagine it is already on your TBR, if not already devoured and logged on Goodreads. However if you haven’t yet then I absolutely recommend this police procedural series, you will instantly be invested in Holler and co.

Thank you to Tandem Collective and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book and for including me on the Thrills & Chills readalong.