[Review]—The Cursed Vampire Falls in Love Again in "Barnabas Collins and the Gypsy Witch"

After a little break from the world of Dark Shadows, I'm back with my review of Barnabas Collins and the Gypsy Witch, the fifteenth book in the series, first published in March 1970 and written by the late great Daniel Ross, under the pen name Marilyn Ross. Like the other books in Ross's series, the story takes place in a parallel universe to the soap opera series.

The family's unofficial governess, Maggie Evans, and Carolyn Collins, find an old cameo with the inscription "From Barnabas to Roxanna, 1895" on it. The girls questioned Carolyn's mother, Elizabeth, about this Roxanna, wanting to know more about her. This sets up the flashback, in which we readers journey to 1895 to meet Barnabas Collin's long-distant cousin—Roxanna.

After getting into some difficulty in New York, Roxanna swiftly left for Collinsport, Maine, where she met her half-sister Ariel, and cousin Barnabas, who took a liking to her. Yes, a little thing called DNA won't prevent the cursed vampire from finding love—again.

To make a long story short, several gypsies are camping nearby, and one of them, the "gypsy witch," issues a dire warning that death is approaching. Soon after, several murders happen, and everyone blames Barnabas Collins.

Although the whole drinking blood thing is gross, a part of me envies the fictitious character Barnabas Collins, an immortal who can make any young, attractive lady fall passionately in love with him. In this novel, he has two ladies in love with him: Roxanna and a New Yorker named Molly. Molly is deeply in love with Barnabas, but he doesn't want to pursue a relationship with her any further, especially since Roxanna has suddenly entered the scene.

The Dark Shadows books seemed a little repetitious, and while somewhat campy and formulaic, I ended up liking Barnabas Collins and the Gypsy Witch.╌★★★★✰