Barnabas, Quentin and the Haunted Cave

Dark Shadows #21

by Marilyn Ross, W.E.D. Ross (AKA)

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?

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

William 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).

Reviews

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love reading challenges. Since I joined Goodreads I’ve tried to participate every year. When I first signed up I had a daily commute of about 4 hours and I read on the bus. I now commute much less frequently and somehow it seems impossible to reclaim all that time for reading. I also participate in the Modern Mrs. Darcy reading challenge. Despite the numbers, I am actually a slow reader. I try to front load my challenges, then, just in case I have bigger books come along later in the year. Barnabas, Quentin and the Haunted Cave was the second book of the Mrs. Darcy challenge category of three books by the same author. As I stated elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) that’s always a challenge.

You see, I grew up reading these Dark Shadows books by Marilyn Ross whenever I could find them. We were a poor family living in a town with no bookstores. That meant that most of my reading was what we could find at Goodwill. Dark Shadows was still broadcasting at the time and I loved the books. This particular one I didn’t read as a child, but reading three is close proximity shows just how similar they are to each other. And this particular book wasn’t as good as some of the others in the series are. The formula they follow isn’t complex: young, unmarried woman comes to Collinsport. She sees strange things (generally supernatural). She meets and falls in love with Barnabas Collins, who is a vampire. Barnabas helps her solve the mystery and then leaves Collinwood under a cloud of suspicion. Reach page 158 and finis.

I shouldn’t expect too much of pulp fiction, but some of the volumes are better written than others. This one has a young widow trying to figure out who murdered her husband. Quentin, the werewolf, is back as he always is the the latter half of the series. Although the ham-fisted prose says he’s evil, he’s actually more of a trickster figure. Lengthy dream sequences pad out this story because, one senses, Ross had trouble getting it to mandated length. Having finished this one disappointed, I have another one to go. If I wait long enough, I will be ready for it. These books are nostalgia reads for me. I read them in the 1970s as a tween becoming a teen, and they do have a way of foreshortening the time, which is, I suppose why I keep coming back to them.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we go with another nutty volume. I think that's going to be par for the course at this point, because the series has been running long enough things need to be nutty to stay interesting.

In this one, a lovely woman falls in love with Barnabas! About time, since that never happens in this series. (It happens every volume.) Also, Quentin is just a total ahole in this series. Satan worshipping werewolf that lives for evil. I think in the tv series he does eventually turn a new leaf, but the books sure aren't making him out to be redeemable. So the female lead in this volume is having her husband's family murdered around her in the real world, while being persecuted as a witch in the dream world. And Barnabas kinda flits back and forth between the worlds. Hey, I said it was nutty.

But like always, even when nutty, these are entertaining. I'll keep going with the series.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent mystery. Again, Quentin is the bad guy and Barnabas plays the knight in shining armor.

The heroine kinda got on my nerves at times cause Barnabas told her to do something for her safety and she just kept on questioning him on it. Other than that I enjoyed it.

[Rebekah Coleman-Brahler · Rating 3 out of 5]

#28 Barnabus Quentin and the Grave Robbers

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read my reviews of any of the previous volumes in this series, you know I'm pretty harsh. It is unfathomable to me that someone would write dozens of books based on a TV series that he admitted to having never watched. So the characters are a little like those in the Dark Shadows series, and yet, in some ways not like them at all. This was one of the few volumes that I didn't actually own. I discovered the cheapest method of obtaining it was the Audio CD edition, and I'm certainly glad to have experienced at least one of these "masterpieces" in this fashion. Read by Dark Shadows star Kathryn Leigh Scott, this was one of the better entries in the series. I know I have said about several of the past few books, but in this case, it's Ms. Scott's reading that brings the story to life. She lends a gravitas that the printed words of "Marilyn Ross" lack, and she voices each character in a way that is exciting without being a caricature.
I'm not going to go into a plot synopsis, because others have already done so here. Suffice it to say that in this Parallel Time version of Dark Shadows that the author created, there are surprises aplenty--especially if you think you know the characters.

[Mark Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mostly enjoyable absurdity from our friends at Paperback Library. Apparently, before the book begins, Barnabas has been cured of his vampirism—how, the author does not say. By Dr Hoffman presumably? Quentin is back, disguised again, as in the previous books, and presented as a dissolute occultist, who can turn himself into a werewolf anytime by donning a magic belt. Murders happen, but police presence—at least initially—is minimal. As in the previous books, people dismiss the danger from serial killers and homicidal supernatural beings with a shoulder shrug and a reflex admonition to be careful. When Barnabas tells the protagonist he’s a vampire, she worries it will “cause trouble in the village.” Yes, the greatest concern should always be town gossip. At the denouement, Barnabas does something ridiculous and uncharacteristic that undermines his supposed “good nature.” All-in-all a typical, mid-grade “Marilyn” Ross DS novel.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

As usual with this series of novels (at least to this point) Quentin is totally different than his Soap Opera version, and kind of wasted as a character-for most of the novel he's in disguise, and goes by another name.
As this story starts, Barnabas is not a vampire, having been cured. We even see him in daylight. (It's 1970 in this story)
But then he attempts to help Harriet Tunbridge, who is having nightmares where she's in 1705 Collinsport and Quentin is terrorizing her. Barnabas enters her dreams to help, but becomes a vampire again as a result.
Elizabeth, Roger and Carolyn all make a few appearances here. As always, Roger is pitch-perfect.
I liked this one, but I continue to disappointed in how Quentin is used/portrayed in these novels.
As always, the atmosphere is very well written. You see the fog, feel the rain.....

[John Peel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harriet Turnbridge's husband has had his throat ripped out, and it looks as if the rest of his family - including her - may be targeted. Her only hope for help is Barnabas Collins, who is having his own problems.

This series has never been particularly brilliant, but this is definitely the daftest yet, with Barnabas projecting himself into Harriet's dreams.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dan was getting somewhat repetitive with his themes by this point but still they are as always entertaining!! Especially with Kathryn reading them!!!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

BARNABAS, QUENTIN AND THE HAUNTED CAVE is a great sequel to BARNABAS, QUENTIN AND THE WITCH'S CURSE. Here we discover that Quentin Collins has been associated with black magic for a very long time.....since the 1690's, in fact! Back then he headed an evil coven at Collinwood and persecuted a young servant girl named Harriet Boland....

Fast forward to the year 1970. Quentin is still alive and still tormented by the werewolf curse. He returns to his old home in disguise. And there he re-encounters Harriet Boland, now reborn as Harriet Turnbridge, young widow and heroine of the book. Harriet instinctively mistrusts him. She also begins having nightmares about her previous life, "going back in time" to the 1690's when she was falsely accused of witchcraft. Her present-day existence is troubling enough too. Because, you see, her husband and in-laws have all been murdered by a disfigured madman that the police can't seem to catch!

Enter Barnabas, our romantic hero. Barnabas has been cured of his vampirism, aparently through medical science. He's human again. Harriet falls in love with him and he with her. Happy ending? No. He offers to join her in her dream state and go back in time with her, which proves to be a bad mistake. Through the astral projection/time travel he once more falls victim to Angelique's curse! Poor Barnabas. He can no longer walk in the sun, but at least now he has Harriet's enduring love and devotion...

There are good descriptions of the creepy, underground world of the caves where Barnabas and Harriet track the madman. There are cameo appearances by Carolyn, Elizabeth and Roger. This one's a winner, very fast-paced and exciting. If you enjoyed the TV show Dark Shadows, you'll really like this little book.

[Larry Yonce · Rating 3 out of 5]

explorations of dreams, caves, and murders!
Barnabas, the dream master ?! The nature of dreams is a major plot device here...including the concept of dreams as a portal to the past. Also the ideas of 2 people having the same dream and a person entering into another's dream (and the pitfalls of that) are played out. Fascinating stuff. Another satisfying twist at the end with a big reveal. Harriet Turnbridge is an appealing heroine, but Quentin is quite peripheral and underdeveloped.

[Dale Rosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

We start out with Barnabas no longer a vampire. Harriet Turnbridge is the leading female character. Some one is out to destroy her and her relatives. Some relatives are already dead, their throats ripped open. To make matters worse she sees some kind of being that has a hook as a hand.

Elizabeth holds a party at Collinswood. Barnabas and Harriet talk and she thinks that Quentin is the killer. There are two other major characters, one of which she suspects of being Quentin. Somehow during a couple of her dreams she and Barnabas are able to interact although, again somehow, one of the dreams causes Barnabas to revert to being a vampire.

Then there's also a series of caves underground where she and Barnabas get in trouble. Hare helps them escape. The attacks continue and the townspeople are alarmed that Quentin might be back and they also turns against Barnabas since a girl seems to have been attacked by a vampire.

It's a pretty wild story and very interesting but there's no explanation of why Barnabas starts off not being a vampire. His reversion to being a vampire due to a dream is rather reaching for things and not actually necessary to the story. Still, neither problem serious damages the story.l