I was a big fan of Barbara Michaels’ gothic romantic suspense books in my teens. When I first discovered Carol Goodman’s novels several years ago, they were reminiscent of that style and so I became a fan of hers as well, although I haven’t read the last couple – for whatever reasons, the premises of those didn’t sound as appealing to me (or perhaps I just had too much on my reading plate and opted for something else). But her latest novel which was just published sounded more like the Carol Goodman books of old, suspense with a literary twist.

Arcadia Falls is both the name of the novel and the upstate New York village where recently widowed Meg Rosenthal moves with her teenaged daughter, Sally. Left with few resources after the sudden death of her husband, Meg has taken a teaching postion at the exclusive private school, Arcadia, which was founded in the early 20th century by female artists. From the beginning, all is not right at Arcadia, and Meg’s specialty – folklore and fairy tales – seem to have more than a metaphorical presence upon the school. Pagan rites, ghostly appararitions, and ominous portents abound. Even the founding of the school is cloaked in mystery and death and Meg and Sally find themselves caught up in the deadly legacy of Arcadia.

While Arcadia Falls did hearken back to Goodman’s earlier books, that itself was part of the problem for me. I felt too much ‘been there, done that’ and found too many elements of the story too implausible to be truly caught up in the suspense. It was a good book, but nothing spectacular; a beach book for those who want a few chills with their sun.