Showing results by author "Marilyn Ross" in All Categories

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.

"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.

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.

When Quentin Collins invited Lara Balfour to Collinwood, they knew each other only from the correspondence that had grown out of Quentin’s admiration for the haunting waltz her father had composed. Soon Quentin professes to love Lara - but is his love really a threat? His first wife’s throat was torn out by a wolflike creature who escaped capture. Since then, other young women have died in the same grisly fashion…in the full of the moon, when Quentin’s mysterious “attacks” occur. Lara faces the terrifying possibility that her brooding, sensitive host is a werewolf.

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."

When Cabrini, the world-famous illusionist, comes to Collinwood, Carolyn Stoddard and her friend Beth Mayberry hope to work as his assistants. But suddenly, Carolyn's anticipation changes to fear. Cabrini turns out to be a frightening figure, shrouded in mystery. Carolyn is certain his hypnotic eyes have pierced the soul of Beth Mayberry, making her a slave to the satanic rites he has planned.

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.

Terror reigns at Collinwood when several patients at a nearby psychiatric clinic at which Barnabas Collins is a patient are stabbed to death. Each victim's forehead is marked with a scorpion, the zodiacal symbol of death. Then Diana Collins, another relative of the Collins family who is undergoing psychiatric treatment at the hospital, finds a bloody knife in her room. Diana, whose astrological sign is Scorpio, is afraid that she may have committed the murders during one of her blackouts.

Ann and John Hayward’s honeymoon at Collinwood slowly turns into a series of nightmares. Soon after their arrival, John, who is recovering from a war injury, falls victim to strange, violent spells. Meanwhile, a series of attacks on her life frighten Ann into believing John is trying to kill her. Though tormented by doubts of John’s sanity, she believes his warning that Barnabas is a vampire. Ann nevertheless accepts help from Barnabas - and unknowingly becomes the prey to the evil forces at Collinwood!

Harriet Turnbridge asks Barnabas Collins for help after her husband, her brother-in-law, and father-in-law are found dead, their throats savagely ripped open. The police insist the killer is a mad beast. Harriet thinks that the phantom recently seen at Collinwood is responsible. Barnabas suspects that Quentin Collins, disguised as a wealthy hippie, is guilty. ​Where will they find the murderer? In the nightmare world of Harriet’s dreams? In the haunted cave beneath the Collins’ family cemetery? Or in another century - when witchcraft and demonology threatened Collinwood?

Heiress Betty Ward is worried about her twin sister, who has eloped with Jeremy Frene. She follows them from Paris to Frene estate at Collinwood - but arrives too late! Her twin is dead, victim of a mysterious illness. Her body has been sealed in a crystal coffin and kept in a darkened room. Jeremy swears that because her ghost returns to the castle each night, he refuses to bury the coffin.

Carolyn Stoddard is knocked unconscious when the sports car she and Barnabas are riding in skids on a patch of ice. She regains consciousness in Collinwood with Barnabas and Quentin Collins at her side - but the year is 1870! And Collinwood is being terrorized by a savage killer. Carolyn likes Quentin and refuses to believe that even in werewolf form, he could be the murderer.