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Losing Lenore
Tommy Cuda's goal is drive Route 66 to the Pacific Ocean in his grandfather's muscle car. Along the way, search for a way of life that isn't boring while avoiding the mind-numbing pull of text messages and social networks. Pushing west out of Chicago with fuel in the tank and money in his pocket feels like sunshine after a month of dark Midwestern skies. Then he draws the Magician card from the tarot deck of a fortune teller named Lenore.
And she runs.
There are only two reasons to run. Towards something one desires. Or away from something one fears.
Or some-ONE.
Lenore's someone drives a blue Cadillac.
In scheming her escape, Tommy learns that Lenore has big plans for the future. A dream that requires the precise moves of a Rubik's Cube combined with the commitment of a moonshot.
But that blue Cadillac blocks the way.
Dodging it uncovers a secret that even the fortune teller couldn't predict. A secret that places Tommy between the rock of knowledge and the hard place of revealing a disturbing truth to his new friend. A truth that draws him face-to-face with powerful men who have taken an unhealthy interest in his actions.
But the Rubik's Cube must turn. So Tommy does what any good private eye would do when the stakes are high and he's running out of time.
Protect the client.
Follow the money.
And she runs.
There are only two reasons to run. Towards something one desires. Or away from something one fears.
Or some-ONE.
Lenore's someone drives a blue Cadillac.
In scheming her escape, Tommy learns that Lenore has big plans for the future. A dream that requires the precise moves of a Rubik's Cube combined with the commitment of a moonshot.
But that blue Cadillac blocks the way.
Dodging it uncovers a secret that even the fortune teller couldn't predict. A secret that places Tommy between the rock of knowledge and the hard place of revealing a disturbing truth to his new friend. A truth that draws him face-to-face with powerful men who have taken an unhealthy interest in his actions.
But the Rubik's Cube must turn. So Tommy does what any good private eye would do when the stakes are high and he's running out of time.
Protect the client.
Follow the money.
538 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 12, 2025
2 people are currently reading
1 person want to read
About the author
Joe Klingler
9 books27 followersJoe Klingler was born in the Great Black Swamp on a hot July day during a cold war. In primary school he read Four Wheel Drift. That led to a soap box derby car named Restless, two crashes, and a lifelong love of motion.
Images of Jimi Hendrix playing the U.S. National Anthem at Woodstock inspired pounding on a Gibson in a garage band influenced by local groups like the MC5 and Iggy and Stooges whose pioneering punk music he figured existed everywhere—though it was actually coming out of Detroit, Michigan forty miles to the north.
Joe read The God Machine by Martin Caidin, and started thinking about the nature of computation. He studied electrical engineering, spent time doing research in medical image processing, published academic papers, wrote a few patents. All of which led to an interest in special effects and the software that made them. He co-founded a company that was soon acquired, leading to a string of jobs for bigger and bigger corporations until assimilation by a billion dollar enterprise gave him the idea for a book—which he wrote while moving 525 mph bouncing between the coasts of North America.
That book led to RATS, his debut novel, which draws on the beauty of technology, its uses, misuses and abuses. And how the collision of human ideologies shapes its future—and ours. A minor character in RATS led to Mash Up: a rollicking ride with student musicians through San Francisco, Silicon Valley, social media and the minds of persons who use sharp knives to solve problems.
He currently resides in California with an iMac and a couple of motorcycles, and has recently released his third novel: Missing Mona. He's fond of turbochargers, and loves his S1000RR.
P.S. The best way to know when a new book is released is to subscribe to The Klingler Kronicle at joeklingler.com. Joe sends an update about six times per year, your email address will never be shared, and you can opt out at any time.
Images of Jimi Hendrix playing the U.S. National Anthem at Woodstock inspired pounding on a Gibson in a garage band influenced by local groups like the MC5 and Iggy and Stooges whose pioneering punk music he figured existed everywhere—though it was actually coming out of Detroit, Michigan forty miles to the north.
Joe read The God Machine by Martin Caidin, and started thinking about the nature of computation. He studied electrical engineering, spent time doing research in medical image processing, published academic papers, wrote a few patents. All of which led to an interest in special effects and the software that made them. He co-founded a company that was soon acquired, leading to a string of jobs for bigger and bigger corporations until assimilation by a billion dollar enterprise gave him the idea for a book—which he wrote while moving 525 mph bouncing between the coasts of North America.
That book led to RATS, his debut novel, which draws on the beauty of technology, its uses, misuses and abuses. And how the collision of human ideologies shapes its future—and ours. A minor character in RATS led to Mash Up: a rollicking ride with student musicians through San Francisco, Silicon Valley, social media and the minds of persons who use sharp knives to solve problems.
He currently resides in California with an iMac and a couple of motorcycles, and has recently released his third novel: Missing Mona. He's fond of turbochargers, and loves his S1000RR.
P.S. The best way to know when a new book is released is to subscribe to The Klingler Kronicle at joeklingler.com. Joe sends an update about six times per year, your email address will never be shared, and you can opt out at any time.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2026
Losing Lenore has the heartbeat of a road novel and the instincts of classic noir. Tommy Cuda begins with a simple, almost innocent dream drive Route 66, escape the digital fog, find a life with some color in it and the book slowly tightens that dream into something complicated and dangerous.
I enjoyed how the story lets coincidence feel like fate without turning mystical. The tarot card, the blue Cadillac, Lenore’s half-revealed plan all of it works like the turns of a Rubik’s Cube, pieces sliding into place while Tommy tries to pretend he isn’t already in too deep.
Klingler writes motion well: diners, gas stations, long stretches of asphalt where a person can reinvent himself or disappear. Beneath the chase there’s a quiet question about loyalty what we owe to strangers who become friends, and how far an ordinary guy will go when doing the right thing gets expensive.
A smart, restless thriller with dust on its boots and a soft spot for lost people trying to outrun their past.
I enjoyed how the story lets coincidence feel like fate without turning mystical. The tarot card, the blue Cadillac, Lenore’s half-revealed plan all of it works like the turns of a Rubik’s Cube, pieces sliding into place while Tommy tries to pretend he isn’t already in too deep.
Klingler writes motion well: diners, gas stations, long stretches of asphalt where a person can reinvent himself or disappear. Beneath the chase there’s a quiet question about loyalty what we owe to strangers who become friends, and how far an ordinary guy will go when doing the right thing gets expensive.
A smart, restless thriller with dust on its boots and a soft spot for lost people trying to outrun their past.
January 26, 2026
Losing Lenore is a tense, emotionally charged thriller that confronts power, betrayal, and complicity head-on. Karen Rigby delivers a story that refuses to look away from difficult truths, weaving personal trauma with a broader criminal conspiracy in a way that feels both urgent and unsettling.
At the heart of the novel is a collision between survival and justice. The involvement of a date-rape survivor adds emotional gravity to the investigation, grounding the mystery in real human cost, while the unraveling of an elaborate drug-dealing operation drives the narrative forward with momentum and purpose. Losing Lenore balances grit with empathy, offering a thriller that is as much about reckoning and accountability as it is about suspense.
At the heart of the novel is a collision between survival and justice. The involvement of a date-rape survivor adds emotional gravity to the investigation, grounding the mystery in real human cost, while the unraveling of an elaborate drug-dealing operation drives the narrative forward with momentum and purpose. Losing Lenore balances grit with empathy, offering a thriller that is as much about reckoning and accountability as it is about suspense.
December 6, 2025
Still Got the Blues
Route 66 looks further away than ever for unqualified but competent private investigator. Slick, modern noir with traditional (and necessary) femme fatale, assistance from underground organised crime and dubious, faceless, government.
Route 66 looks further away than ever for unqualified but competent private investigator. Slick, modern noir with traditional (and necessary) femme fatale, assistance from underground organised crime and dubious, faceless, government.
January 24, 2026
Good a little convoluted
The characters are mostly fun. The villain a POS. Maybe too much of the government being the unbelievable. On to the next Klingler.
The characters are mostly fun. The villain a POS. Maybe too much of the government being the unbelievable. On to the next Klingler.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews