By Daniel Weizmann https://www.danielweizmann.com/about @danielweizmann
Published by Melville House https://www.mhpbooks.com/ @melvillehouse
336 pages ISBN 9781685890308
Publication date 25 May 2023
The Last Songbird is the first novel in the Pacific Coast Highway Mystery series.
I was sent a paperback Advance Reader Copy in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Nikki at the publisher for arranging this.
The Cover
A simple but rather effective cover. A setting sun symbolic of a career and life drawer close, together with a woman (Annie) as seen in the driver’s (Adam) rear view mirror. This is just perfect for the feel of the novel.
From the blurb
Meet Adam “Addy” Zantz—failed songwriter and Lyft driver, who drives around Los Angeles at night with a song in his heart and his head in the clouds. Haunted by memories of his ex, a former songwriting partner with a hit single, Addy dreams up lyrics as he drives strangers through the mazes of the sprawling city. The one person giving him hope is his favorite rider—aging folk legend Annie Linden (think Joni Mitchell/Carole King), who expresses admiration for his music. But when Annie is found murdered, Addy snaps into focus: He realizes that it’s now on him to enter the night world and start playing detective. There’s just one problem — the police regard Addy as a suspect.
Left with a final, cryptic text from Annie, and desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in him, Addy digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that shocks him. As Addy drives all around the boundaries of contemporary LA, he comes to question how well he—or anyone else—really knew Annie.
My thoughts
Annie is a famous singer songwriter, who at 73 is approaching her final act. Now eschewing fame and the spotlight she takes to using Lyft drivers when she wants to move around the city. One such driver Adam Zantz makes an immediate impression on her, and she takes his number, forgoing the app to make him her unofficial driver. One of the reasons they have a rapport is that Adam is a songwriter, at least he wants to be, currently out of work and driving to make ends meet in the tough gig economy. Adam is a natural, lyrics and melodies come to him throughout the day, and Annie likes his work. His talent is tempered by his temperament though, destined to be more like the romantic poets than Neil Sedaka.
One evening Adam gets the usual flirty song lyric text summoning him to her mansion, Annie wants to go for a drive. When he arrives, Adam is met with chaos and the police are in attendance. The site security guard has been murdered, Annie is nowhere to be found and her regularly fired PA Bix Gelden, who lives on site cannot be found too. Adam goes to his friend Ephraim Freiberger a paparazzi photographer to talk it through and try to make sense of the evening’s events. Annie had wanted a favour from Adam, to find a cassette tape. Could this be connected?
Bix turns up at Adam’s place, scared and high from a speedball. Annie has been found dead on the beach and he will be the obvious suspect especially has he had written unpleasant letters every time Annie fired him. Adam agrees to giving him a lift and doing so gets caught on camera and so becomes involved for harbouring a fugitive.
Adam is determined to investigate what has happened and to clear his name. He briefly worked as a lacky to PI but surely needs more skills than he learned there. Nevertheless, he asks the questions and follows the trail, but is he doing it because of fondness for the old girl which he believes he is or is there a deeper subconscious motivation.
This is a thoroughly modern reworking of the traditional LA Noir strand of the genre. Instead of the grizzled, world weary, seasoned old pro Private Investigator we have an idealistic but completely unrealistic man bobbing through life like a cork in the ocean waiting to be washed ashore. It requires a tragedy, one he takes personally though the reality is it hardly affects him, to make him focus and find a direction.
The storyline rumbles along nicely, mainly sticking to the limits but with the occasional bit of speeding as Adam drives his trusty old Volkswagen Jetta across LA and the Pacific Coast Highway in search of answers. We get a feel for the man who makes his living driving, mainly at night, and the chaos it brings to his lifestyle. It is also a connection to his past.
The dialogue is cracking, but instead of the wise guy with the smart mouth and killer put downs, we have modern language peppered with Jewish words and expressions. Not exactly hard boiled but with the characters in the story it feels authentic and right. The descriptive prose is on point, cutting and quirky.
The humour is there too with some (intentionally) terrible jokes, plus there is a golden vein of Jewish style self-depreciating put downs running through the prose. There is also dark humour too, including one comment which is the blackest I’ve read for a long time (blacker than a black cat in a coal bunker at midnight black.)
At its heart is motherhood, family relations and is the nurture of adopted children more important than their blood ties. Is home where you came from, where you live at anytime or where you belong. Its not just Annie and her wider family and connections this affects but also Adam.
We get a glimpse of LA of the rich and famous, the seedy side to the city, but also life between the extremes as ordinary people soldier on with lives made difficult. Adam lives in a storage cupboard at his cousin’s recording studio, whilst another character sleeps in a 24-hour spa and people sleeping in cars is not an unusual occurrence. There is the corrosive effect fame and fortune, the way it changes Annie but also the effect on Adam has he sees his ex-girlfriend writing partner score a hit and award with her new man. Then there is the influence of porn, thought liberating by some in the 1970s but leaving people damaged in the 2020s. This in not a Noir mired in the past, it raises its hat to the classics, but it is very much grounded in current day issues.
The Last Songbird is a freewheeling ride down the Pacific Coast Highway breathing new life into classic LA Noir. If the series continues like this, it’s going to be a winner.
The Last Songbird can be purchased direct from the publisher here
The author
Daniel Weizmann is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Billboard, the Guardian, AP Newswire, and more. Under the nom de plume, Shredder, Weizmann also wrote for the long running Flipside fanzine, as well as LA Weekly, which once called him “an incomparable punk stylist.” Most recently, Weizmann co-authored Game Changer by Michael Solomon and Rishon Blumberg (Harper Leadership, 2020). He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Peter turns the page 