Barnabas, Quentin and the Scorpio Curse - Book 23

Barnabas, Quentin and the Scorpio Curse by Marilyn (Dan) Ross
published by Paperback Library
Copyright 1970

IS THE SIGN OF SCORPIO
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!

Dark Shadows - Book 1

Dark Shadows by Marilyn (Dan) Ross
published by Paperback Library
Copyright 1966

Despite warnings from the townspeople,
Victoria Winters accepts the offer to come to
the strange Collins House 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 Collins House, Victoria,
without friends in the manor, feels death close
in on her, a choking, frightening death.

Watch for VICTORIA WINTERS the next in this great series by Marilyn Ross

Wow, I am such a big fan of the television show that I find if hard to poke fun at the books. I'm reading this back cover and thinking ... yes, yes ... this sounds GREAT!