Book Review: ‘The Graveyard Shift’ by Maria Lewis

Maria Lewis’ The Graveyard Shift is an excellent murder mystery that leans into the horror/slasher genre with a passionate romance sub-plot.

The hero of the story is Tinsel Munroe; the host of the titular The Graveyard Shift – an overnight radio programme in Australia. On her show Tinsel shares her love of vintage films and old music with her listeners. The novel opens on Halloween night. Tinsel’s life is changed forever when a caller is murdered live on air. As more bodies start dropping and it becomes clear the police have no real leads, Tinsel enlists her sister Pandora (a true crime blogger) to help her solve the case before she becomes the next victim.

For some books it takes me a little while to get into the story whilst other books I know after only a few pages that I’m going to enjoy them. The Graveyard Shift definitely falls into the second category. Lewis’ writing style kept the story fast paced and both easy and enjoyable to read. As well, the plot kept me hooked as I tried to guess who the killer was.

The novel has a pair of strong lead characters in the form of Tinsel and Pandora. The sisters’ obvious love for each other and their willingness to go to any lengths to protect each other was one of the best elements of the story. Even though, as far as I’m aware, The Graveyard Shift will be a stand-alone novel, I would absolutely read more stories about this pair. Maybe a story with Pandora as the main protagonist; investigating a story for her blog?

One technique Lewis used a couple of times in her novel was to include the same scene twice but from different perspectives. One such example occurs in the first two chapters. We start the novel from the our unlucky caller’s point of view as an ordinary night turns into a deadly encounter. The following chapter rewinds to earlier in the same evening only this time we follow Tinsel as she goes to work and we get to see her reaction to hearing the murder. I think if this technique was overused it wouldn’t have been as effective but, since it was used sparing, knowing what was about to happen actually added to the story’s tension because I was waiting for the inevitable moment of realisation from the characters.

Another key element of the book was its main location – the radio studio. A great deal of the story takes place both within the station’s building and within Tinsel’s studio itself. It’s not a setting I’ve encountered before in a novel and I found the backstage moments and learning about what goes into making a radio programme very interesting. The radio aspect of The Graveyard Shift also helped to make this story stand out for me amongst other murder mysteries I’ve read.

Quite often when an author sets their novel in their present day what it actually means is that the story is placed within the modern era we are familiar with but not tied to a particular year; to give the novel a longer lasting appeal. Lewis doesn’t follow this guideline as she sets the story of The Graveyard Shift within its publication year of 2023. The story is full of casual pop culture and current references – Lewis even makes sure to place her fictional Halloween events on a Wednesday to match the real date. Although, inevitably, there will come a day when the references start to feel dated; from the perspective of a reader in 2024 I completely enjoyed reading an ultra-up-to-date present day story.

For me The Graveyard Shift was one of those all-around great novels. There are plenty of strong characters to root for, interesting settings and locations, and a good mystery with a villain that feels present and threatening throughout the story. For me, this was a book that didn’t disappoint.

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