The Ghost and the Stolen Tears marks the eighth entry in our Haunted Bookshop series, though our hard-boiled ghost began haunting the cozy streets of Quindicott, Rhode Island, all the way back in 2004.
We sincerely thank our publisher for allowing the series to continue, not only with this entry, but with The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller and The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait, both of which we wrote after taking a decade-long hiatus from the series. A grateful tip of the fedora goes to our new editor, Tracy Bernstein, along with everyone on the Berkley production team, who guided this entry into publication.
The seed of inspiration for The Ghost and the Stolen Tears came from the masterful short story “The Heavy Sugar” by Cornell Woolrich. Though the plight of its protagonist—trapped between criminals and the law—was first published in the January 1937 issue of Pocket Detective, the story still resonates today, and we thank the late great Mr. Woolrich for the priceless gem of his literary legacy.
We also wish to thank our longtime agent, John Talbot, and the many loyal readers of our Haunted Bookshop series for your faith in us and our characters. Your love of Jack and Pen kept them alive during our long break, and we look forward to sharing many more of their adventures with you.
As for our other works and worlds, you can learn more about them (and us) by visiting coffeehousemystery .com and cleocoyle.com.
—Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini
aka Cleo Coyle, New York City