Dark Shadows is a book series based on and inspired by the American gothic horror television series of the same name. Thirty three novels, including the novelization of House of Dark Shadows, were published by Paperback Library from 1966 to 1972. The novels were credited to Marilyn Ross, a pseudonym of W. E. D. Ross.
Many of the novels are based on popular gothic fiction, or popular monster or horror films.
The novels, with the exception of the House of Dark Shadows film novelization, do not share the continuity of the television series. House of Dark Shadows was an adaptation of the 1970 MGM film. Many printings feature production stills from the television series on the covers. The stills are often unrelated to the novel's plot.
The novels follow a discernible formula:
An unresolved plot featured in both the television and novel series was the question of Victoria Winters origin. Ross planned to reveal Victoria as Barnabas' long-lost daughter, conceived in the 1940s when Barnabas was temporarily free of the vampiric curse. Winters' biological mother, who died young, would be revealed as a friend of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. When Alexandra Moltke left the television series in 1968, the rights holders instructed Ross to remove Winters and related characters from future novels.