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The Last Songbird
(2023)(The first book in the Pacific Coast Highway Mystery series)
A novel by Daniel Weizmann
"Weizmann’s music bona fides inform the novel’s tone and purpose, but it’s equally clear how steeped he is in the styles of detective fiction past and present...This is a story of murder, but also of vivid life." -- The New York Times
“A confident, polished storyteller who honors his influences and while weaving his amateur detective through a complex mystery that will keep you turning the pages until you’ve reached the haunting finale. A sharp, memorable debut.” -- Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity
A gritty, fast-paced neo-noir that explores the consumptive nature of fame, celebrity, and motherhood through the lens of a driver lost in the gig economy.
A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his dented VW Jetta. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app— over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver and Annie listens to his music, encouraging Adam even as he finds himself driving more often than songwriting.
Then, Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final, cryptic text— ‘come to my arms’— a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up an old guitar teacher, sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that spills into the dark world of a shocking underground Men’s Rights movement. As he drives the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, Adam comes to question how well he, or anyone else, knew Annie— if at all.
The Last Songbird is a poignant novel about love, obsession, the price of fame and the burden of broken dreams, with a shifting, twisting plot that's full of unexpected turns.
Genre: Mystery
“A confident, polished storyteller who honors his influences and while weaving his amateur detective through a complex mystery that will keep you turning the pages until you’ve reached the haunting finale. A sharp, memorable debut.” -- Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity
A gritty, fast-paced neo-noir that explores the consumptive nature of fame, celebrity, and motherhood through the lens of a driver lost in the gig economy.
A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his dented VW Jetta. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app— over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver and Annie listens to his music, encouraging Adam even as he finds himself driving more often than songwriting.
Then, Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final, cryptic text— ‘come to my arms’— a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up an old guitar teacher, sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that spills into the dark world of a shocking underground Men’s Rights movement. As he drives the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, Adam comes to question how well he, or anyone else, knew Annie— if at all.
The Last Songbird is a poignant novel about love, obsession, the price of fame and the burden of broken dreams, with a shifting, twisting plot that's full of unexpected turns.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Weizmann's fiction is informed by his past as a highly influential and precocious young veteran of the punk scene, as well as by his lifelong passion for music, his career in journalism and his love of noir and Los Angeles. This book is funny, poetic, gripping, and beautifully tackles themes of creativity, fame and family." - Francesca Lia Block
"Take everything you know about the noir detective and chuck it out the window of a moving car on the Pacific Coast Highway. Weizmann's Adam Zantz is a uniquely relatable amateur sleuth. His flaws and, more importantly, his empathy make him a Lew Archer for the millennial age. Fortunately, The Last Songbird only feels like the beginning." - Kyle Decker
"A terrific ride through the troubled, tangled lives surrounding a murdered LA music legend, told with the energy of the Germs, the urgency of X, with a captivating narrator who drives headlong in crime-fueled pursuit." - Gregory Galloway
"Propulsive and pitch perfect, The Last Songbird is a smart, fast-paced read about the costs of fame to both the spectacularly gifted and those left dazzled and dazed in their wake. In crackling prose, Daniel Weizmann masterfully takes the reader through the midnight precincts of LA to tell a gripping story of human fallibility - of triumph and failure, generosity and greed, love and disappointment - and the drive, against all odds, to set things right. A stunning debut." - Joan Leegant
"The Last Songbird is rock noir at its best. It sneaks up on you like a hook line, and when it's over, you can't get it out of your head. Hapless hero/songwriter Addy Zantz is witty, gritty and determined to solve the murder of his idol and muse, the legendary rock star, Annie Linden. Daniel Weizmann's L.A. is half Warren Zevon and half Raymond Chandler. Bravo." - T Jefferson Parker
"The Last Songbird is my favorite kind of neo-noir - blending the bright lights of celebrity and fame with the primal urges and darkness that come with any good noir novel. Weizmann is a confident, polished storyteller who honors his influences while weaving his amateur detective through a complex mystery that will keep you turning the pages until you've reached the haunting finale. A sharp, memorable debut." - Alex Segura
"Weizmann skillfully crafts a gritty, unstoppable detective thriller rife with sleaze and sea foam and broken dreams set against a crumbling LA backdrop. It's Sunset Boulevard meets Once Upon A Time in Hollywood." - Katie Tallo
"Daniel Weizmann's The Last Songbird is a gripping, fast-paced, neo-noir mystery whose intriguing characters populate the streets of Los Angeles. When a '70's music icon suddenly disappears, her driver and friend, begins a frantic search that leads him in pursuit of the truth. In turn, he will discover just as much about himself. Weizmann has written a smart, unforgettable, page-turner of the best kind." - Gail Tsukiyama
"Take everything you know about the noir detective and chuck it out the window of a moving car on the Pacific Coast Highway. Weizmann's Adam Zantz is a uniquely relatable amateur sleuth. His flaws and, more importantly, his empathy make him a Lew Archer for the millennial age. Fortunately, The Last Songbird only feels like the beginning." - Kyle Decker
"A terrific ride through the troubled, tangled lives surrounding a murdered LA music legend, told with the energy of the Germs, the urgency of X, with a captivating narrator who drives headlong in crime-fueled pursuit." - Gregory Galloway
"Propulsive and pitch perfect, The Last Songbird is a smart, fast-paced read about the costs of fame to both the spectacularly gifted and those left dazzled and dazed in their wake. In crackling prose, Daniel Weizmann masterfully takes the reader through the midnight precincts of LA to tell a gripping story of human fallibility - of triumph and failure, generosity and greed, love and disappointment - and the drive, against all odds, to set things right. A stunning debut." - Joan Leegant
"The Last Songbird is rock noir at its best. It sneaks up on you like a hook line, and when it's over, you can't get it out of your head. Hapless hero/songwriter Addy Zantz is witty, gritty and determined to solve the murder of his idol and muse, the legendary rock star, Annie Linden. Daniel Weizmann's L.A. is half Warren Zevon and half Raymond Chandler. Bravo." - T Jefferson Parker
"The Last Songbird is my favorite kind of neo-noir - blending the bright lights of celebrity and fame with the primal urges and darkness that come with any good noir novel. Weizmann is a confident, polished storyteller who honors his influences while weaving his amateur detective through a complex mystery that will keep you turning the pages until you've reached the haunting finale. A sharp, memorable debut." - Alex Segura
"Weizmann skillfully crafts a gritty, unstoppable detective thriller rife with sleaze and sea foam and broken dreams set against a crumbling LA backdrop. It's Sunset Boulevard meets Once Upon A Time in Hollywood." - Katie Tallo
"Daniel Weizmann's The Last Songbird is a gripping, fast-paced, neo-noir mystery whose intriguing characters populate the streets of Los Angeles. When a '70's music icon suddenly disappears, her driver and friend, begins a frantic search that leads him in pursuit of the truth. In turn, he will discover just as much about himself. Weizmann has written a smart, unforgettable, page-turner of the best kind." - Gail Tsukiyama
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