Barnabas, Quentin and the Scorpio Curse by Marilyn (Dan) Rosspublished by Paperback Library
Copyright 1970
THE MARK OF 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 com-
mitted the murders during one of her black-
outs. The fear that she is losing her mind is
compounded when no one will believe she has
seen a strange, wolf-like creature prowling
the grounds.
The only person who will listen to her story
is Barnabas. But how can he help her when
he too has become a suspect?
If I were to wager on the reason behind the vast number of Collins' seeking hospitalization for some unnamed psychiatric aliment, I would go with inbreeding.
Okay, so we know that Barnabas has a weird cousin fetish but, as it was recently pointed out to me, the sexual tension in Collinwood, a house that always seems to be dripping with various vagabonds from some branch of the family or other, could be cut with a knife.
You, of course, have Caroline who is a bit of a tramp but that isn't at all uncommon when a girl's daddy disappears on her. Then there's Barnabas who, after a tragic rejection by Josette, is sporting a Harvey Fierstein longing for love. But the real culprit, I think, is Quentin Collins.
Everything about that man oozes riding-crop to the ass while you're not looking. Just take a look at that cover. You totally get the feeling that David Selby and the camera man had just been up to something naughty in the props room.
What a great show!
And before you come complaining about yet another Dark Shadows paperback on WRFH, you can blame Mykal Banta's artfully crafted Gold Key Comics! blog for posting Dark Shadows issue number 28 from 1974. If you are not familiar with the thirty-five Gold Key Dark Shadows comics that were published between 1969 and 1976, incidentally running longer than the soap opera itself, now is your chance to take a peek. Just click HERE!
Also, if you are interested in viewing the 1968 set of View-Master reels of Dark Shadows click here!
Spectergirl: Who's complaining? Thanks for the linkup!
ReplyDelete"Everything about that man oozes riding-crop to the ass while you're not looking." Ha Ha! My mind reels with comments I could make at this juncture. Cousins, ridings crops, Scorpio babes, Caroline (who always seemed perfectly prime and available at a moment's notice).
By Marilyn (Dan) Ross? Just how kinky are we getting here?
Great post!
Carolyn Stoddard was voted The Girl With Whom You Are Most Likely To Succeed.
DeleteMykal: Hehe! I know! It all seems so wholly inappropriate. You've got to love it!
ReplyDeleteYour post had me streaming the show and writing this one up, the link was a given.
Oddly I overlooked a link to my own View Master reels but I think I'll go back and correct that.
Spectergirl: Hell, we just talked me into getting the first volume on DVD!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen one second of Dark Shadows. Does this make me a bad and/or incomplete person?
ReplyDeleteRob! Good God man! You've got to remedy that ASAP!
ReplyDeleteIt is only a matter of time before there will need to be a Rob Kelley Hot Seat style portrait of Jonathan Frid and how unprepared are you going to feel then?!
If you can believe it, I have seen an episode or two of the Ben Cross 90s remake.
ReplyDelete(ducks out of the way of flying object)
Rob! Hon, that's like boasting you've seen Falcon Crest or Dallas
ReplyDeleteI always assumed that Dan Ross used the pen name "Marilyn" because the publisher thought a woman's name would be more appropriate for a Gothic romance author. Kind of like Dustin Hoffman's charade in "Tootsie," or Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire." Or, vice versa, Louis L'Amour used the name Jim Mayo early in his career because his real name wasn't manly enough for Westerns.
ReplyDelete