Showing results by author "Marilyn Ross" in All Categories

The speaker is too high on LSD to explain what he means, but at one time he had been in love with Ruth's sister, Mary, whose sun sign is Aquarius. And it is Mary's disappearance that brought Ruth to Cranston House, a sinister, run-down hotel occupied by Dr. Eric Palmer and his youthful drug cultists. Ruth is told that Mary is "away for a while". But no one will say where, or for how long. Suddenly Ruth herself becomes a virtual prisoner. The more she learns about the dangerous drug experiments Palmer sponsors, the more terrified Ruth becomes.

Was a noose tightening around a horrified Deborah Foster? It was the night of evil ritual. The worshippers of the devil danced around the ruined abbey, now transformed into a temple of terror. Deborah had come there hoping to unmask her sister’s killer. Suddenly against her will, Deborah felt herself succumbing tothe unholy spell woven by the frenzied witches. Relentlessly they began to encircle her. Panic gripped her for she knew they had chosen her as their next victim.

Anna Percival drifted through the shadowy rooms of the old dark house in a sleepwalker's trance. And wherever she went a strange death was sure to follow. Many years before, at Land's End Manor, lived another Anna, a murderess of uncommon cunning and cruelty. Gossipy villagers tried to make Anna Percival believe that the other Anna's evil spirit lived in her! Yet even as death thrived at Land's End, Anna Percival found her own safety threatened again and again. Was she out to take her own life as well as the lives of others?

Dunbar Manor had always been a place of fear for Ann Randall. Years ago, her mother had been killed there by a black-hooded figure who escaped capture. There were those who said that the phantom-like "thing" still roamed the eerie grounds at the dark of the moon. Ann had never expected to return to Dunbar Manor. But one night she awoke in one of its shadowy rooms, her money gone, to find herself the fiancée of a sinister man she had never seen before! She was informed that soon she would become the mistress of the great estate.

Regina Widden stirred restlessly in her bed as she fought to pull herself out of her nightmare.... At last, she opened her eyes and found that she was on a narrow cot in a small cottage. She turned to see a candle in a pewter holder burning on a wooden table beside her. Suddenly, the door burst open and a young girl rushed in. Regina recognized her friend, Peggy.

Karen arrives at he Bagnold plantation in Haiti determined to uncover the truth about her cousin Sheila’s mysterious death. Sheila’s husband, Henri Bagnold, is not above suspicion - though Karen finds herself inalterably drawn to the handsome artist. But Henri is not the only one who had a motive for murder. His beautiful adopted sister, Jean Marie, or his attractive blonde secretary, Dorothy, also had reason to want Sheila dead. So did Leonard, Henri’s cousin, who committed suicide after Sheila’s death and is said to stalk the Bagnold plantation now in zombie form.

Arundel was cursed with a still unexplained secret from its sinister past. And when a series of strange, near-fatal accidents befell her, Marie was certain that the mysterious menace of the old mansion was reaching out to claim her as its next victim. At first she clung to her new-found love for comfort and protection. Suddenly, she became aware that the killer who pursued her from the shadows of that doomed house could very well be her own husband!

From the moment she came to live at Phantom Manor, a rotting pile of stone she had suddenly inherited, Jan Davis became the terrified victim of a series of “accidents.” The lurking murderer could be anyone whose life was tied to the dread secret of the eerie mansion: a homicidal, half-witted young man; a jealous relative who wanted the manor for herself; even a neighboring landowner with whom Jan had fallen in love. But the hidden villain of Phantom Manor could also be one of the “unliving” - the legendary ghost that stalked its shadowy corridors....

Will Anita lose her husband to the ghost with the porcelain face? When they inherit an ancient mansion, Anita and her husband Charles move in. From the very beginning of their arrival at Shorecliff, Anita notices the change that comes over her husband. Charles turns into a sullen and brooding stranger. He becomes obsessed with the legend of Amanda, a vain and beautiful murderess who kept forever young by wearing a mask of porcelain. Though dead 100 years, Amanda seems to have taken complete control of Charles.

Pamela Wales, the young governess at Ravenswood, can hardly believe her luck. The man she adores - the brooding master of the palatial estate - wants her for his wife. For a little while, she is so happy that she ignores the servants' gossip of old scandals and her fiance's involvement in a recent murder. Suddenly, she is almost killed. Then a ghost pursues her through the mansion's sinister corridors.

While on a ski vacation in Switzerland, beautiful model Adele Marriot meets Dr. Stefan Soivak. He tells her of his discovery of an operating technique that will keep her forever thin. Adele agrees to have the operation and enters the doctor’s clinic. Once there, Adele realizes she is virtually a prisoner. Against her will, she undergoes the operation. When she recovers she finds she has been used for evil purposes. To cure one of his wealthy vampire patients, the evil doctor has turned Adele herself into one of the living dead.

Centuries ago, Jenny Swift ruled her cutthroat crew of pirates with a blacksnake whip. Now, legend says, her ghost still guards the treasure ship where it sank in Collinsport Cove, meting out death to those rash enough to seek her gold. But Norah Bliss and her father, both salvage experts, are skeptical. Invited to Collinwood to recover the treasure, they accept eagerly.

Before the blizzard cuts Collinwood off from the rest of the world, Barnabas Collins arrives there from England, bringing with him his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, who hopes to find a new life where no one knows he is the son of London's most savage murderer. Another stranger also finds refuge from the storm at Collinwood. He calls himself Paul Faron, private detective - but to Barnabas, he is Quentin Collins, victim of the werewolf curse.

In an alien spaceship hidden in a swamp near Collinwood, Roger Collins and his friend, space scientist Murdock Gray, lie bound and gagged - yet no one even knows they are missing! For their captors are able to change shapes at will, and two of them have "become" Roger and Murdock. Although Elizabeth and Carolyn sense a difference, they can't guess that they are at the mercy of beings who will stop at nothing to prevent the next US space flight under Murdock's direction.

This story marks a sudden shift in the characterization of Quentin Collins, who up to this point in the range had been portrayed as an enemy of Barnabas. Barnabas predicts trouble for Collinwood when Nicholas Freeze, in whose antique shop Carolyn Stoddard works, discovers a centuries-old potion that promises eternal youth. Soon after, Mr. Freeze's daughter, Hazel, tricked into taking a serum, dies. Carolyn is grief-stricken over her friend's death.

Against her will, Anita Burgess accompanies her brother, Jeffrey, to Collinwood. He is determined to get revenge against Quentin Collins, who he believes is responsible for his best friend’s death. Pretending friendship toward Quentin, Anita and Jeffrey learn he has established a back magic center at Collinwood and has several young women completely under his power. ​Jeffrey enlists Barnabas’ aid in his struggle to destroy Quentin - both to avenge his friend’s death and to free the young women. But does he not realize that by destroying Quentin, he risks destroying Anita.

The desperate summons could not be ignored. Stephen Briar's note was more than the grief-stricken missive of a newly widowed brother-in-law. Since Ann's untimely death, evil had settled over Briarcliff, and Stephen was fighting for his survival. Jessica Rice sought to uncover the truth about the accident that had claimed her sister's life, but the mystery only deepened. Intrigue wove around intrigue, casting all the occupants of Briarcliff under the gloom of suspicion. No one could be trusted - including Stephen. Jessica had never felt so alone, or so gravely in danger.

"You see, Paula, how well it will work out. Lily will drink the blood of the village maidens - and Barnabas will be blamed." Paula stared at the evil doctor in horror. "Whatever happens to Barnabas, you'll still have Quentin to reckon with!" Dr. Bentley sneered. "The werewolf? If Quentin tries to interfere with me, I'll find a way to deal with him." Lily added, "Better come over to our side, luv." "I'd rather die," Paula said firmly.

Ellen awoke to see a ghostly figure moving through the shadows to her bedside. "Ellen!" Her name was whispered hoarsely, but she recognized the voice. It was Aunt Kate's. "What's wrong?" Ellen asked, getting out of bed. "Dying...." Ellen sprang to her and eased her aunt down on the bed. "What is it?" "Danger...vampire."

Professor Gerald Collins returns to Collinwood from an archaeological expedition to Mexico with several crates of animals - giant rats, poisonous snakes, and rare lizards. His daughter, Irma, turns to Barnabas for help. She fears her father also brought back a Quetzalcoatl, the terrible, cursed feathered serpent of Aztec legend. Suddenly, a mysterious murderer strikes at Collinwood, and a feathered serpent is reported flying over the area.