I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into this! I'm so sorry - it really sounds entirely like my sort of book, but it didn't grab me as I'd anticipated. DNF, but I suspect I'll be trying again and will update if I do finish the book in future.

I personally could not get into this, but I think I was not in the right mindset. This will be great for grittier mystery lovers!

This time, we fly across the other side of the world to Melborne, Australia, where we meet Tinsel Monroe, a horror loving radio dj who presents the aptly named late night show, The Graveyard shift. All things are going smoothly for her until one day, someone is murdered live on air.

The call she believes to be a prank soon turns out to be genuine as police turn up at the office to question her about the last words of the murder victim. Soon, another murder occurs and events happen, which shows that Tinsel may be next.

I loved this story. It was such a good mixture of horror, thriller, whodunnit, and even a bit of romance into one fantastic read. Tinsel is a fun-loving, light-hearted character who just loves music and the horror genre and is often playing horror soundtracks on her show. But when she starts getting twisted up in the serial killer case, we see what she is really made of and just how strong she is.

But, her sister Pandora is obsessed with true crime and becomes fascinated by the case, especially with the Inside info she gets from Tinsel. At one point it feels like Pandora and Detective James are the only people Tinsel can trust as more bodies surface.

All the characters in the story helped drive the plot forward, and each had their own role to play and weren't simply there as fill in. I read this book in 2 days, and it was such an engrossing read, I just had to find out who did it. Of course with all detective thrillers we had plenty of curve balls some you see coming and some which appear out of the blue but the perfect pacing means you are always on the edge of your seat waiting for another clue or another body to drop.

The weaving in of the extra horror aspects through the protagonists love of the genre just added another nice layer to the story and the number of references to books and films and all things scary will get any horror fan geeking out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - a fantastic, thrilling read for horror and thriller fans alike

Fast paced and it kept me on the edge of my seat! I loved it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

90s slasher style set during Halloween. This was a highly enjoyable thriller clearly written for fans of the horror genre. You will love this gasp by the minute book.

This definitely had shades of love in the time of serial killers which I read earlier in the year. I was looking for something easy to read post festival madness and this fitted the bill perfectly. A bit 'tiktok' but will do well because of this. A little bit daft but with a dark underlying theme. This ticked all the boxes I needed! a murder, live on air, followed by a series of similarly gruesome murders around the area with the DJ seemingly the ever closer victim. Silly, dark, funny (at times) but a good gentle read.

I LOVED this.

If you are a horror movie fan, especially of the classics, you'll love this. A real homage plus a genuinely entertaining and often disturbing story with some great characters.

Lovely and twisty, full of terror and emotion, it is a right old page turner.

Highly Recommended.

Tinsel Monroe is a moderately successful radio dj with her own overnight show appropriately titled “The Graveyard Shift”. She has worked very hard in radio for years to get this responsibility, including working as an MC for horror-themed events and movies, earning her recognition as a personality with an encyclopedic knowledge of horror and horror-themed songs, stories and movies.

Her success is hard-earned, and she's aware that her male colleagues are jealous of what notice she gets as part of the radio station's overall programming. A few of them also subject her to a constant level of sexual harassment. Doing her best to ignore this, Tinsel hopes that her hard work will eventually pay off with a daytime radio show.

One night, while on air, a frequent female caller claims a stranger is in her home, then begins screaming. Tinsel thinks this is a prank, and dismisses it from her mind till police show up the next morning, telling that the young woman was murdered while she and Tinsel were chatting.

What follows is terrible for Tinsel, and a number of other people, who are targeted by the same killer for some unknown reason. The killer also attempts to murder Tinsel herself, coming very close one time.

One thing becomes clear to police, and to Tinsel's lawyer/true-crime aficionado sister: all the victims are peripherally connected to Tinsel, whether through her radio program or through some of her hosting assignments. Tinsel’s lawyer and true crime aficionado sister decide to work together to determine who might be doing this, assisting and augmenting the police's effort.

And even while Tinsel feels she no longer has control over her life, she does get involved with a very attractive police detective, with the two considering a life after the case is solved.


This was suspenseful and violent, with some great character interactions. Tinsel is compelling, bright, tough and warm, and her relationship with her sister made this book for me. It was full of love, humour and respect, and just wonderful.

If you know horror stories and music, this book is great, with author Maria Lewis handily conveying Tinsel's horror and general pop culture nerdiness beautifully.

I'm not a big fan of violence in stories, but there was so much more to enjoy in this story in terms of relationships and dialogue that made this book work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Datura for this ARC in exchange for my review.

In The Graveyard Shift, Maria Lewis (she/her) takes everything I love in a horror film and puts it into a book, so it's more than fair to say that I loved it! It's pretty much Scream in book form, and we all know how I feel about that film. I will admit, it took me a while to get into it for the sole reason being that I read it on my Kindle and I've not read an e-book in a while, but once I got into the groove of things, I could NOT put it down! I would highly recommend picking this up if you love thrillers, both on screen and on the page, as much as I do.

Thank you to Datura for the ARC!

I enjoyed what I read of this, but it was archived before I got to finish it… I will be purchasing this so I can find out how it ends!

I love listening to the radio, but even I struggle when it gets late at night. Suddenly the airwaves are packed with novelty DJs using all their shtick to ‘entertain’ the few remaining listeners. It is even worse if you live in London, when the light fades the pirate radios stations come out to play. The bandwidth is full of the latest beats from someone’s front room. I cannot listen to any of it, but what if you thought that you heard a murder during a phone in? The Graveyard Shift by Maria Lewis has a DJ who is not just dealing with late night weirdos, but late-night murderers.

The late night to early morning shift was never Tinsel Munroe’s end goal, but a foot in the door. It turns out that she is good at entertaining the creatures of the night with her mix of phone in show and alternative music. One Halloween things starts off just as strange as normal, but one call feels a little too real. A prank call in which the caller is murdered live on air, but when Tinsel sees the news the next day, it was anything but a prank, and the killer may just be her biggest fan.

Centring a crime story on a late-night radio show is a great idea by Lewis, there is a vulnerability to being one of only two or three people in a building in the middle of the night. Tinsel takes it upon herself, with the help of her determined sister, to discover who the killer is. In the meantime, she is still presenting a nightly show. There is a vulnerability to Tinsel’s situation, but a strength to her character. This is in her personality, but also in the family that she has and the friends that she keeps.

No matter how strong Tinsel feels, she is in real danger. Lewis heralds Craven and Carpenter as influences for the book and it has that slasher feel. It is a crime procedural story that fans of crime will enjoy, but it also has vignettes that remind you of the chase scenes in Scream. That high octane, heart pumping terror as a killer chases you with a knife. The book combines horror and crime to excellent effect.

For a slasher to work, you are going to have to emphasise with the Final Girl. Tinsel is a perfect modern foil. She is not an innocent babe in arms, but a woman in her 20s who has made mistake and is trying to further her career. Lewis rounds out the character by introducing her family and her lover/s. The written format gives the reader a chance to know the protagonist in depth. Tinsel feels like the rounded woman within one book that took Syndey several Scream films to get to.

There are several vignettes that follow the various victims, but the bulk of the book focuses on Tinsel, her work, and her love life. As the book progresses, she becomes more invested in finding the killer. There is a solid crime element to the book that means it is not just a piece of slasher fiction. I loved the fact that Lewis has been able to combine two of my favourite genres by producing some great high energy slasher fiction, but also produce a coherent and intelligent crime story. The book can be read as a standalone, but Tinsel finds herself in such an interesting place, that I would be happy to read more mysteries with this character.

This is a perfect thriller book for the spooky season as it is set on Halloween. It’s a book perfect for all the horror fans out there as it revolves around the good old horror and slasher movies.


I really enjoyed this book! It’s a well-written thriller with a hint of humor and romance, which is my cup of tea. As a horror/slasher movie fan myself I particularly liked all the references in this book.

The Graveyard Shift drew me in right from the start with a chapter written in the POV of the first murder victim. And this is something the author keeps going with the other murder victims throughout the story!

I usually have a hard time connecting with the main characters of thriller books, but I really ended up loving Tinsel Munroe. And especially her sister! The sister relationship in this book was one of the highlights to me. They end up doing a little investigation on their own to help catch the killer.

And then we have Detective James, also known as Vic. He is the lead detective of this case and keeps close to Tinsel to keep her safe and solve the case. As the case becomes more complicated and dangerous, the closer they get and soon the attraction between them is undeniable.

It was especially one thing that I didn't like in this book, and that was the ending. I have no idea why the author chose to end the book that way because to me it made no sense.

Tinsel Munroe is an overnight radio DJ who specializes in all things spooky. This includes creepy music and horror movies (I actually listened to some of the songs she played on her show while reading, which made for a great soundtrack for Tinsel’s life) . When a person dies on the air while trying to win tickets to the premiere of the new Joe Meyer movie, Band Candy, Tinsel’s life turns into a dangerous game of finding the girl’s killer and trying not to be the next target herself.

There are some interesting elements to this mystery. I like Tinsel, the life that she lives above a pub with her tattoo boyfriend, surrounded by interesting music and movies (both premieres and hosting a Halloween movie marathon). Her sister, Pandora runs a true crime blog, and both of them seem to be interesting people to be around. The setting of Melbourne and many scenes placed at Tinsel’s radio station job and movie theaters adds to the appeal of this novel, but the execution of the plot just did not capture me like it should have. The plot feels fatty. Maria Lewis spends a great deal of time on things that are insignificant. There is almost as much time spent on why Tinsel should not wear open toed shoes in a mechanic’s garage as the motive for all of the killings in the book. A disproportionate amount of time is spent on the fact that Tinsel and Pandora are adopted because it has absolutely zero to do with the plot in the end. For a mystery and thriller, this novel is not sharp at all, but just soft and mostly meandering toward the ending.

The Graveyard Shift has some interesting ideas, but it does not seem like the ideas are enough to carry the plot for four hundred pages. The mystery elements are fairly weak. We are given a red herring suspect that we do not believe for one second is the culprit, and we are also given a cliche male cop who is there to save this damsel in distress, while falling in love with her. This has the pieces to be a really great horror-tinged thriller, but instead it is soft and mostly uninteresting, with an ending that feels rushed and not as well plotted as it could have been.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness, well I didn't expect to complete this one inside 24 hours... what can I say? Lewis does it again!

This tells the story of Tinsel (I love this name!) and how she somehow gets entangled in a game of cat and mouse with a killer.

There is so, so much suspense in the book, it is unreal. Lewis will quite literally have you sat on the edge of your seat from the moment you start reading and the ending will shock you (and in my case, upset you!) I am still reeling from that ending!

This is the first book in a while where I haven't actually guessed the bad guy a few chapters in as it has been that carefully crafted.

If you love crime or thrillers then this one is for you. Highly, highly recommend this book and thank you for yet another amazing book Maria Lewis!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

The books opens with the murder of a young woman. She calls her favourite radio show (‘The Graveyard Shift’) and meets her demise while live on air. The story then shifts to the point of view of the radio presenter (Tinsel Munroe) and recounts the murder from her point of view. This made the book feel frustratingly slow to start. About the first 20% of the book, spent going over what I’d read in the first few pages.

In contrast, I found the ending to be very rushed. I found myself looking at the amount remaining and thinking ‘this can’t be right?’. The two twists at the end were also disappointing and implausible. Had the ending been better, I could have forgiven the beginning of the book. All in all, this book didn’t really work for me.

I really liked the late night spooky radio station vibes, it made me think of Welcome to Nightvale and I wanted more of that. However something was missing for me to enjoy it overall.

I did like having the murderers victims POV as it created a lot more empathy, I was sad to see them die because I felt like I had gotten to know them a little.

This book is good for fans of horror, with references throughout and music used in a lot of horror movies.

The ending was bittersweet, on one hand I was happy about the choices she made at the end, standing up for herself and what she wanted to do with her life but it was a sad ending that felt unsatisfying.

Overall it was okay but didn't stand out too much, I felt it should have been shorter to be more enjoyable as a fun, quick slasher instead of a longer novel with a large focus on romance.

This is definitely a book that's in a league of it's own! It's a horror/thriller/slasher story yet still has it's funny parts, the characters were nearly all likeable and as realistic as characters called Tinsel, Pandora, etc. can be, and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next!

This is the love child of Stephen Graham Jones and Gradi Hendrix with a touch of crime thriller. A slasher full of pop culture reference, featuring a cast of well developed and interesting characters.
There's some very funny moments, there's a lot of blood and gore.
An there's a fast paced and highly entertaining story I couldn't put down.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A must read for the spooky season coming up. This book is a good fit for anybody who enjoys watching and reading true crime documentaries and horror stories.

I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down, it gave me big slasher vibes which are my favourite troupe of all times. The way the characters were written was done incredibly well, everything about them was realistic and I really enjoyed going along with Tinsel, she was a good radio presenter and of course a final girl.

The Graveyard shift was a fast paced thriller/mystery as we follow Tinsel; a popular and well respected radio presenter who has a caller murdered live on air. Tinsel along with her sister, Pandora are on a mission to find out if the victim was murdered by a serial killer or for any other reason.

Everything about this book were amazing, it had all the thrills of horror, slasher, thrill and mystery and the action that was in the book were really well done.. an entertaining good read that I really enjoyed and definitely would recommend to fellow book readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the copy of this arc in exchange of an honest review.

When I first came across this book, I thought: A horror, set in Melbourne! Hell. Yes. Sign me up!

I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on the genre, like our heroine Tinsel Munroe, and I hate cheap jump scares, but I have been known to enjoy a good horror story from time to time. One that builds the suspense over course of the story. One that gives you an overall sense of foreboding, but offers lighter reprieves in between the darker moments. Paranormal beasty or not, it’s the nuance I look for in a good horror story and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for.

It started out like a typical campy 90s slasher film, which was awesome, and such a throwback to Scream, I Know What You Did…, Urban Legend, or the 70s and 80s of Nightmare…, Friday 13th and Halloween, and like any good murder mystery, laid false trails as to who might be the killer. There’s plenty of action, and suspense, and for once the main character is not a complete idiot making stupid decisions when being chased by a killer! Seriously folks, if you want to learn how to be a Final Girl - follow Tinsel’s footsteps!

Still, I had some issues, albeit minor:

To me, a good story is something that’s somewhat grounded in reality. Unless it’s sci-fi/dystopian/paranormal of course. But names of real streets, suburbs, venues etc. offer the reader a sense of place. Especially if they’ve visited, or live in/near those locations. As a Melbournian, I could picture exactly where Tinsel was. I’ve been to ACMI, Fed Square, The Capitol, Flinders Street…you get the picture.
However where this dropped for me is that there’s no laneway off Taplin Street. And the street running parallel doesn’t have a view of St George’s Road - it’s Scotchmer Street.
I know, I know, it’s a fictional story, and I’m nitpicking, but so much else is based on factual areas of Melbourne, that it was a little annoying to have such a glaring deviation in the geography.

Also plot hole. How was Detective James at the end of the lane/St George’s Road where Tinsel was running. His car was at The Pinny, she was at least the next street over (again the geography doesn’t match up but moving on) it was never explained and it bugged me.

Lastly the Americanised language - ass, jello. I’m not sure if this was an edited version of the book for the US market, but as an Aussie, as a Melbournian, reading a book written by an Australian author set in my home city, it was a little annoying.

And lastly. Vic. My less than minor issue. More of a major gripe. I don’t think I can forgive the author for that one.

I wanted to give this book a perfect rating. The story alone would have gotten it there. However, those minor issues put together did impact my enjoyment a little, hence it’s a solid 4 stars. And I would definitely consider reading more work from the author.

My thanks go to Maria Lewis, Datura, and NetGalley for an arc of this book. Opinions are my own.