Showing results by author "Marilyn Ross" in All Categories

Despite warnings from the townspeople, Victoria Winters accepts the offer to come to the strange Collinwood as Governess. For some curious reason, she feels the secret of her past may be uncovered in the bleak manor high on Widow’s Hill. From the Moment she arrives, Victoria becomes the target of someone in the house determined to destroy her. As the wind moans and the rain lashes around the isolated Collinwood, Victoria, without friends in the manor, feels death close in on her - a choking, frightening death.

Maggie Evans visits the Collins family graveyard and is transported back in time to the year 1880. There she awakes, an amnesia victim, at a Collinwood she barely recognizes. All that seems familiar are the house itself and the family’s guest, Barnabas Collins. Slowly, Maggie learns she is trapped in a nightmare. She has fallen into the hands of Dr. Giles Collins, whose mysterious experiments with human blood have already taken several lives. Now she is slated to be his next victim. Though Maggie is warned by the others that he is a vampire, she turns to Barnabas for help.

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.

Still trying to uncover the secret of her own identity, Victoria Winters continues her life at Collinwood. The unexpected arrival of mysterious strangers at the brooding manor instills terrible fears in her. Horrified at their lies and their evil, menacing gestures, Victoria wonders if these guest have come to kill her. Terror shrouds Collinwood as Victoria finds herself the prey of these cruel tormentors.

Barnabas Collins, the 175 year-old vampire, is introduced in this story of gothic suspense. Your blood will grow cold as you listen to the never-before-told story of the foggy night in 1899 when Barnabas Collins first arrived in Collinwood. You’ll chill to the full horror of the real truth about Barnabas - a secret so terrible that it could not be revealed until now.

Upset over the death of Ernest Collins, Victoria begins to believe that phantoms are haunting her. Are they figments of her imagination? As the threats to her life become very real, she is forced to accept the horrifying truth. The strange figures are not phantoms, but the bodies of Derek and Esther Collins, murdered more than a century ago. They were unwittingly released from their coffins by a shaft of moonlight - and doomed to roam the earth as “the living dead”.

While searching for the woman who will replace his long-lost Josette, and thus end the terrible curse upon him, Barnabas meets lovely Clare Duncan. The story, set in 1870, of their romance - and of the terror it brings to the beautiful young noblewoman - is a tale of gothic suspense which will chill and delight the legions of Barnabas Collins fans.

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.

Victoria stood on the ledge known as Suicide Cliffs and stared down at the raging surf and jagged rocks below. Next to her stood Professor Mark Veno, a mysterious visitor to Collinwood. He spoke to her in a low, sinister voice. “Think of all those who threw themselves from these very rocks.”His eyes seemed to burn into hers.

Victoria Winters at last feels she has a clue to her own identity when she meets elderly Henry Collins. He secretly gives her the jewels which once belonged to his lost love - a woman Victoria strangely resembles. After receiving the gift, Victoria is suddenly terrified by attacks on her life which are masked as accidents. Surrounded by danger, Victoria wonders if she is to be the victim of ruthless thieves - or a hidden murderer desperate enough to keep her from learning about her past.

Deborah had reluctantly agreed to the bizarre masquerade. Now, it was too late. She knew the obsessed Angus Raven would make her go through with his plan. In her dead sister's dress, she slowly made her way down the winding stairs. Everyone gasped! “You could be Judith!” Angus exclaimed.

"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."

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.