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You are here: Home / Books / The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle | Book Review

October 27, 2022 · 6 Comments

The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle | Book Review

Book Reviews· Books· Cozy Mystery

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Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)

by Cleo Coyle

The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Berkley (October 4, 2022)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

Norma is a modern-day nomad. Living out of her van and teardrop trailer, she revels in self-reliance, solitude, and reading in the glorious peace of nature. Jovial, wise, and scrupulously honest, she’s become an uplifting presence in the little town of Quindicott, Rhode Island, where bookseller Pen is thankful to have her part-time help. But it’s Norma’s other job, working as a housekeeper at the Finch Inn, that gets her into terrible trouble. Norma is accused of stealing jewels from a guest’s room: the legendary Valentino Teardrops, an antique necklace and earring set, inherited by a young socialite. Pen doesn’t believe Norma is guilty of the crime—though the evidence is distressingly strong. And when the spirited Norma vanishes before her arrest, Pen turns to another spirit…

Jack Shepard, PI, may have been gunned down decades ago, but his memory hasn’t been ghosted. Back in the 1940s, those same Valentino Teardrops starred in a bizarre case of betrayal and murder. From the look of things, history is about to repeat. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful.

My review of The Ghost and the Stolen Tears

I loved The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, and now I’m suffering a book hangover. I need another book with Jack and Pen and friends! If you’re a cozy mystery lover, I’m sure you’re familiar with the books by Cleo Coyle. The Coffeehouse Mysteries are extremely popular, but you may not be familiar with The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries. That’s probably because the series was on a really long sabbatical. Well, not really, but close to 10 years elapsed between the fifth book and the sixth book! I am so glad that they brought the series back because I adore it! If you haven’t read any books in the series, it’s okay for you to jump right in with this book! They are really easy to read as stand-alone books, and here’s why…

The characters in The Ghost and the Stolen Tears have lots of personality! They’re so well-written that they become real to you very quickly. They’re memorable because they’re a mix of funny, cranky, kind, inquisitive, reliable…I could go on since each character is so unique. The characters absolutely make this book very entertaining. The fact that Jack has been dead for decades also leads to some entertaining moments like when Pen tries to explain hashtags to Jack.

I love books (obviously, right), so the bookshop setting is right up my alley. It’s in a little town, so most of the residents know each other at least a little. But then there’s another setting…New York City. New York City in the 1940s that is. It’s where our ghost, Jack Shepherd, PI, lived, and it’s where he takes Pen when she’s dreaming. I loved these dreams because the crime they’re investigating is tied to show biz…the theater. Pen gets to see a young Charlton Heston, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and a few others.

Once I started The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, I couldn’t put it down! It took me a little over a day to read, and that’s because I had to do other stuff that you have to do like eat, sleep, fold laundry. Don’t you hate it when life makes you quit reading? It’s definitely a page-turner, and I think you’ll find yourself so immersed in the book that you won’t want to put it down either! The mystery is well-plotted which makes the book flow seamlessly back and forth from present to past. It’s fun making all of the connections and solving the mystery along with Jack and Pen.

There is so much I loved about The Ghost and the Stolen Tears that I could go on and on, but I’ll let you discover these things on your own. It’s a book that I highly recommend! I think you’ll love it!

About Cleo Coyle

CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries—now celebrating eighteen years in print. They are also authors of the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, previously written under the pseudonym Alice Kimberly. Alice has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., and New York, and has written popular fiction for adults and children. A former magazine editor, Marc has authored espionage thrillers and nonfiction for adults and children. Alice and Marc are also both bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together.

Author Links

Webpage     Free Newsletter     Facebook     Twitter
BookBub     Goodreads    Instagram

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Penguin Random House – BAM

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The Ghost and The Stolen Tears TOUR PARTICIPANTS

October 24 – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures – SPOTLIGHT

October 24 – The Plain-Spoken Pen – REVIEW

October 24 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT  

October 25 – Nadaness In Motion – REVIEW

October 25 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 26 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

October 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

October 27 – Diane Reviews Books – REVIEW

October 27 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

October 28 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

October 28 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

October 29 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 29 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

October 30 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

October 30 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

October 31 – Elza Reads – REVIEW

October 31 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

October 31 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

November 1 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 1 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT

November 2 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT  

November 2 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?

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Thanks for sharing!
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Comments

  1. Cleo Coyle says

    October 27, 2022 at 11:17 am

    Greetings, Christy — Thank you so much for this thoroughly entertaining review! Marc and I were thrilled to see how much you loved The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, especially your kind compliment of not wanting to part with our characters to the point of regretting having to do things like “eat, sleep, and fold laundry.” :)) It truly made our day to know how much you enjoyed revisiting our Haunted Bookshop world, and we hope you’ll continue to revisit Jack & Pen and all our quirky characters of Quindicott for years to come.

    Happy Halloween to you and happy reading!

    ~ Cleo Coyle

    Reply
    • Christy Maurer says

      October 27, 2022 at 3:16 pm

      Happy Halloween to you too! You are very welcome. I can’t wait for more adventures.

      Reply
  2. Julie Waldron says

    October 27, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    I haven’t read any of her books, yet. It sounds like a fun one!

    Reply
  3. Linda Herold says

    October 28, 2022 at 7:46 am

    Thanks for the chance! I am a fan of Cleo’s books!

    Reply
  4. Mareli Thalwitzer says

    October 31, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    Hi Christy!

    Oh wow – you wrote the best review ever for this fun cozy mystery. I’m still rather new to cozies, only about two years, bit less. So no! I’ve never read anything by Cleo Coyle before this one. I loved it as well and I hope to read more by this author and especially from this series, in future.

    Elza Reads

    Reply
    • Christy Maurer says

      November 1, 2022 at 10:45 am

      Thanks!! I started reading cozies before I even knew they were a thing! I started with The Cat Who books way back in 1992! I agree that this book was so much fun!

      Reply

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