The Last Songbird
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
"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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
L.A. Lyft driver Addy Zantz, the narrator of this soulful first mystery from Weizmann (Drinking with Bukowski), is trying to reignite his songwriting career when one of his regular fares, aging music legend Annie Linden, is found dead on Hermosa Beach. Grief-stricken at the loss of not just his favorite passenger but his sole artistic supporter, Addy becomes ensnared in the investigation. Police charge Linden's recently fired former assistant with the singer's murder and pin Addy as an accessory. In an attempt to clear his name, Addy begins tracking down the people closest to Linden, including exes, lovers, and old mentors, hoping to unravel her complicated past and shine a light on her secrets before it's too late. Weizmann seamlessly weaves vibrant L.A. music industry personalities into the suspenseful plot. This tense whodunit deserves a sequel.
Customer Reviews
This is not a love song
The setting is contemporary Los Angeles. Protagonist Adam Zantz (Addy) is an aspiring songwriter struggling to get by with what he earns as a Lyft driver. He has a regular gig to drive Annie Linden, an ageing female singer/songwriter with multiple hits to her credit back in the day and an aura of mystery to her life. She lives on the beach rather than up a canyon, but Joni gets a name check early, along with Carole King and Stevie Nicks. Our boy is summoned by Annie one evening. When he arrives, he finds the police there. Her security guy is dead, and Annie is missing. She’s dragged out of the sea a day os so later. The cops charged her drug addicted former assistant, who is adamant he didn’t do it. Addy doesn’t think so either. Before she died, Annie gave our boy cryptic instructions about looking into something for her. Once she’s dead, he feels compelled to go digging, even though he’s got no idea what he’s looking for. There follows an investigation peppered by characters of varying degrees of eccentricity, and considerable substance abuse, a dalliance with a dodgy men’s group, and other things I can not immediately recall. Mystery solved.
Writing
This was described in the blurb as neo-noir, whatever that means. I know I found it hard going at times. While I wouldn’t go as far as the Goodreads reviewer who described it as “a dumpster fire moving through LA traffic during rush hour,” some of the prose was over the top, e.g. “Rush hour headlights and taillights seemed to drizzle in a winding waltz,” or describing a facial expression as “the reluctant and aggravated self-admission of age and exhaustion mixed with a drop of gratitude.” I understand the author has published several anthologies of short fiction and humour. The humour that he injects here is mostly of a self-consciously Jewish variety that felt dated to me, and I’m dated enough to know. Extra half star because it’s a first novel.