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Dark Shadows #31
Barnabas, Quentin and the Hidden Tomb
Set in the Civil War era, this volume tells the story of Ellen Drury, who falls in love with Barnabas after becoming engaged to an evil vampire -- the twin brother of the man she originally planned to marry.
158 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1971
136 people want to read
About the author
Marilyn Ross
131 books61 followersWilliam Edward Daniel Ross, W. E. Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912) is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John, New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and under a variety of mostly female pseudonyms such as Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Olin Ross, Diane Randall, Clarissa Ross, Leslie Ames, Ruth Dorset, Ann Gilmer, Jane Rossiter, Dan Ross, Dana Ross, Marilyn Ross, Dan Roberts, and W.E.D. Ross. As Marilyn Ross he wrote popular Gothic fiction including a series of novels about the vampire Barnabas Collins based on the American TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71).
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 24, 2025
4.5 Stars
This was interesting because it flipped the script a little bit. Instead of the usual "beautiful young girl falling in love with Barnabas", we had a girl in love with someone else and Barnabas seemingly being the one smitten. (She did like Barnabas, but it wasn't the usual head over heels deal we get from this series.)
We also had pretty much a new cast of characters, other than Barnabas and Quentin. The story was set in 1866, so we didn't have Roger, Carolyn, Maggie, etc. involved but instead the Collins family of the time.
There's also an evil vampire involved that Barnabas and Quentin end up at odds with. Overall this was one of the better volumes just because it was a little different.
Only one volume left in the series. When I started reading the series seemed like a daunting task, but now I hate that it's ending.
This was interesting because it flipped the script a little bit. Instead of the usual "beautiful young girl falling in love with Barnabas", we had a girl in love with someone else and Barnabas seemingly being the one smitten. (She did like Barnabas, but it wasn't the usual head over heels deal we get from this series.)
We also had pretty much a new cast of characters, other than Barnabas and Quentin. The story was set in 1866, so we didn't have Roger, Carolyn, Maggie, etc. involved but instead the Collins family of the time.
There's also an evil vampire involved that Barnabas and Quentin end up at odds with. Overall this was one of the better volumes just because it was a little different.
Only one volume left in the series. When I started reading the series seemed like a daunting task, but now I hate that it's ending.
January 17, 2012
#31 in the Dark Shadows book series. This one takes place in 1866 when a young Southern girl named Ellen Drury travels north to marry her sweetheart in upstate New York. But complications soon arise in the form of blood-sucking undead, lookalike imposters and hideous human remains. Ellen's dying aunt sends her to Manhattan to seek help from Barnabas Collins, an old beau of hers---of the aunt's, I mean. Barnabas is a popular stage actor and human again, having (temporarily) escaped the vampire curse. But surprisingly, Ellen DOESN'T fall in love with him, nor with the handsome, roguish Quentin either. Instead she gives her heart to a quite ordinary young man, astonishing both the Collins men.
After some of Ellen's harrowing experiences it's no wonder she just wants someone normal. And it's nice to see author Dan ("Marilyn") Ross varying his usual formula, giving us a heroine for once who ISN'T besotted with Barnabas Collins.
This book is fluffy, amusing and fun. There are some great biting scenes for those of us who like blood-letting. There's a great scene in which the vampire is staked. Barnabas has always had a double standard when it comes to destroying his own kind: okay if he kills them, not so good if they come after him with the same intent. In this book he's best friends with Quentin,too, their easy camaraderie interjecting some humor into the melodrama. All in all, a very good read!
After some of Ellen's harrowing experiences it's no wonder she just wants someone normal. And it's nice to see author Dan ("Marilyn") Ross varying his usual formula, giving us a heroine for once who ISN'T besotted with Barnabas Collins.
This book is fluffy, amusing and fun. There are some great biting scenes for those of us who like blood-letting. There's a great scene in which the vampire is staked. Barnabas has always had a double standard when it comes to destroying his own kind: okay if he kills them, not so good if they come after him with the same intent. In this book he's best friends with Quentin,too, their easy camaraderie interjecting some humor into the melodrama. All in all, a very good read!
June 10, 2018
This is another of the stories set in the past, this one in 1866 not long after the end of the Civil War. Ellen is a young woman who is rich. She wants to marry a guy named Stephen Gray and goes to his home only to find out he was involved in a barn fire and was badly injured.
Her aunt goes along with her. It turns out the guy's lawyer is a total slob, there's a vampire on the loose in the area and her dear Stephen is not at all what he seems to be. From the back cover we find that her aunt has been killed by a vampire.
So, Ellen goes to New York to find Barnabas who, very surprisingly, is no longer a vampire at all but an actor. The plan is for him to go with her back to Stephen's place, find out what is going on with the vampire attacks, find out what is going on with a mysterious major, a mysterious peep-show peddler (scenes of the war and things like that, not sex images by the way), deal with how Ellen fails to understand the consequences of 'don't go out alone,' learn about a werewolf problem and get to meet Quentin.
Oh, yes, and also she has to survive. A lot happening and a rather different Barnabas novel.
Her aunt goes along with her. It turns out the guy's lawyer is a total slob, there's a vampire on the loose in the area and her dear Stephen is not at all what he seems to be. From the back cover we find that her aunt has been killed by a vampire.
So, Ellen goes to New York to find Barnabas who, very surprisingly, is no longer a vampire at all but an actor. The plan is for him to go with her back to Stephen's place, find out what is going on with the vampire attacks, find out what is going on with a mysterious major, a mysterious peep-show peddler (scenes of the war and things like that, not sex images by the way), deal with how Ellen fails to understand the consequences of 'don't go out alone,' learn about a werewolf problem and get to meet Quentin.
Oh, yes, and also she has to survive. A lot happening and a rather different Barnabas novel.
December 14, 2023
I started reading this series by Dan Ross a few years ago, and I'm sad I'm nearing its end, but Ross seems to be going out with a BANG! I assume the series had already gone off the air by the time he wrote this volume, but only official records would show that. With that being said, this may have been one of the most focused and tightly written volumes in the 32 book series (I'm not counting the excellent volume he did based on the film, "House of Dark Shadows").
*POSSIBLE SPOIL ALERTS AHEAD*
I do get the feeling that the show had gone off the air because I think this book has elements of homage to it. First, it has our eternally complicated hero, Barnabas, cured of his vampirism and working as an actor and head of a theatre company in New York in the area of what is to become the Broadway theatre district. I believe this was an incredible hat tip to Jonathan Frid, which is awesome!
The other element of homage is the location of where much of the action takes place, on an estate in the Hudson River Valley, which is the location of where the Spratt Mansion was (the Old House in the series) and the Lyndhurst Estate (where both "House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows" were filmed).
The action and pace of book is nonstop and very tight. Our heroine, Ellen Drury, is strong and no nonsense, but she does have a bad habit of wandering when she's told not to. We no longer have Hare but instead there is Lake, who seems to be not only loyal but charming in his own right. There are the usual twists and turns, but as always there is the anticipation on "How are we going to get them this time?" to keep the reader interested to keep turning pages. There's a bit of different twist on the mention of the DuPres family (as well as a misspelling of the name. Oh where were the editors at the paperback company?!).
You get the feeling that the formula for the novels has matured, and with only one left in the series, it would have been interesting to see where Ross would have taken it as we would have gone on further into the 70's. I have no problem giving this one 5 stars, sans some copy editing.
*POSSIBLE SPOIL ALERTS AHEAD*
I do get the feeling that the show had gone off the air because I think this book has elements of homage to it. First, it has our eternally complicated hero, Barnabas, cured of his vampirism and working as an actor and head of a theatre company in New York in the area of what is to become the Broadway theatre district. I believe this was an incredible hat tip to Jonathan Frid, which is awesome!
The other element of homage is the location of where much of the action takes place, on an estate in the Hudson River Valley, which is the location of where the Spratt Mansion was (the Old House in the series) and the Lyndhurst Estate (where both "House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows" were filmed).
The action and pace of book is nonstop and very tight. Our heroine, Ellen Drury, is strong and no nonsense, but she does have a bad habit of wandering when she's told not to. We no longer have Hare but instead there is Lake, who seems to be not only loyal but charming in his own right. There are the usual twists and turns, but as always there is the anticipation on "How are we going to get them this time?" to keep the reader interested to keep turning pages. There's a bit of different twist on the mention of the DuPres family (as well as a misspelling of the name. Oh where were the editors at the paperback company?!).
You get the feeling that the formula for the novels has matured, and with only one left in the series, it would have been interesting to see where Ross would have taken it as we would have gone on further into the 70's. I have no problem giving this one 5 stars, sans some copy editing.
September 3, 2023
In the penultimate book in the original series we find ourselves in 1866. In the Hudson River Valley. The Civil War has just ended and Ellen, the love interest in this episode, is worried that her fiancé is behaving so strangely. Spoiler alert: it’s because her intended is actually the identical twin brother she didn’t know about, who happens to be a vampire! Her suspicious aunt, before becoming a vampire victim, sends Ellen to find Barnabas Collins. Barnabas, temporarily cured of his own vampire curse, is an actor in New York City. He takes Ellen to Collinwood to hide out.
Although not entirely original, the plot in this Dark Shadows novel is, as I note elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) a slight improvement on those that have gone before. Not only is Ellen a stronger woman than most in the series, she doesn’t fall hopelessly in love with Barnabas. This subtle departure gives some variety to the series. Of course, the vampire and his handlers follow Ellen to Collinwood. She also encounters Quentin there who, unlike in some earlier volumes, is a good guy. He wants Ellen to love him, but she has eyes for another.
As I’ve noted before, these are “guilty pleasure” novels for those of us who grew up reading them occasionally. Dark Shadows is experiencing a bit of a comeback in the internet age and those of us who watched it when it originally aired are antiques ourselves. Nevertheless, I get the sense that as he was winding down this series W. E. D. Ross was really trying to make them less formulaic. Still, these are not high literature, but they’re still fun to read.
Although not entirely original, the plot in this Dark Shadows novel is, as I note elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) a slight improvement on those that have gone before. Not only is Ellen a stronger woman than most in the series, she doesn’t fall hopelessly in love with Barnabas. This subtle departure gives some variety to the series. Of course, the vampire and his handlers follow Ellen to Collinwood. She also encounters Quentin there who, unlike in some earlier volumes, is a good guy. He wants Ellen to love him, but she has eyes for another.
As I’ve noted before, these are “guilty pleasure” novels for those of us who grew up reading them occasionally. Dark Shadows is experiencing a bit of a comeback in the internet age and those of us who watched it when it originally aired are antiques ourselves. Nevertheless, I get the sense that as he was winding down this series W. E. D. Ross was really trying to make them less formulaic. Still, these are not high literature, but they’re still fun to read.
November 26, 2021
This is one of the more unique entries in the long-running series. Barnabas is a cured vampire who must team up with Quentin to find out who is terrorizing the Gray estate (much of the story takes place away from Collinwood) as well as Collinsport. There's the usual reveal of a character in disguise, but this time it's not Quentin. Barnabas is constantly saying he's not sure his vampire cure is going to last, and how he was cured is never quite explained. Good thing. "Marilyn" Ross has his hands full keeping all the various improbable plot devices up in the air (my favorite: a grieving mother switching out a vampire son for her dead son in order to retain the family fortune). This book takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War, and while the casual reader won't have a clue who any off these characters are, it doesn't really matter. Dark Shadows fans won't recognize them as the people they watched on television either. One final note: by the time the series got to this point, Dark Shadows had been off the air for months. Sales were flagging (there would only be one more book in the series) and now, fifty years after its original publication, this title is extremely hard to find. Fortunately you can listen to the audiobook through Audible, or purchase a set of CDs for a reasonable price on Ebay. The entire series is being reprinted by Hermes Press, so it shouldn't be long before you can get a new copy of this book.
January 25, 2024
"I'd never think of marrying you," she said, angrily. "You--you werewolf! "
In 1866, spirited Southern belle Ellen Drury travels North to wed, but instead winds up stalked by a vampire. Entertaining entry in the series set when the Civil War had recently ended. This time around, Quentin (once again in disguise) represents a sort of spirit of retribution. Barnabas is very much the concerned hero.
December 26, 2020
Enjoyed this one a lot more than some of the previous ones as it told the story in a bit of a different way. Kathryn's southern accents were delightful!!!
October 9, 2025
if you have vampire
problems, call on barnabas
quentin just pranking
problems, call on barnabas
quentin just pranking
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews