Set in the English countryside of the 1930s when England was just emerging from the Great Depression, The Dark Shadow brings Detective Sherman Bernardo's investigative acumen to the fore as he unravels the mysterious deaths of a master and his attendant. The quiet lives of Margaret and Charles Pritchard at Mystic Manor are disrupted in the New Year Eve party by the death of Charles Pritchard, and this is followed few days later with the mysterious hanging of his personal attendant Mary Hann. Detective Bernardo engages in a race against time to trace the killer and prevent an innocent from going to the gallows. His search leads him to a mysterious outhouse, a secret message, a riches-to-rags story, and several repeated encounters with a dark shadow. A lot rides on his findings, including his own credibility as an ace detective.