The Joanna Piercy Moorland Investigation Files – Book 12 The Portrait of Guilt

The Shadow at Dawn opens the Joanna Piercy Moorland Investigation Files with a chilling murder on the remote Staffordshire moors.

Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy is called to a bleak and isolated stretch of countryside where the body of a young boy has been discovered. The circumstances are disturbing: he was murdered elsewhere, his body was transported to the moors, and someone attempted to destroy the evidence by setting it alight.

As Joanna begins the investigation, seemingly insignificant details start to matter. A carefully knotted bundle of heather is found near the body. Forensic examination reveals traces that may connect the murder scene to a vehicle, clothing, and another location. Joanna and her team must search the surrounding moorland while trying to determine who transported the boy and why.

The investigation soon reveals a darker story involving vulnerable children, abuse, missing teenagers, conflicting accounts, and a growing list of suspects. Joanna refuses to settle for easy assumptions. She studies the physical evidence, questions witnesses, follows overlooked clues, and works to establish the connection between the victim and the person responsible.

Set against the lonely roads, rocky crags, farms, villages, and expansive landscapes of the Staffordshire Moorlands, The Shadow at Dawn combines atmospheric British countryside with a detailed police investigation.

For Joanna Piercy, every clue matters—and somewhere among the shadows of the moor is the truth behind a young boy's death.