The Last Songbird

 Debut novel The Last Songbird, by Daniel Weizmann... takes the reader on a car ride through the dark and lonely streets of Los Angeles.  Looking through the windshield from the passenger seat as the driver tries to both find the murderer of Annie Linden and also to discover who she really was.    

The story is told from the perspective of Adam Zantz, a down on his luck Hollywood wannabe.  He has tried many career paths, music critic, recording engineer but has not succeeded at any.  The latest job is as a Lfyt driver.  One night his fare is singer, songwriter, Annie Linden, a pop icon. Maybe Adam's luck is changing.  Annie contracts him as her personal “off app”, Lyft driver and offers to mentor him as he strives to become a songwriter. Her last text summons Zantz with a cryptic message for a ride, “ AZ beach house 8pm come to my arms.” Before Adam arrives to pick her up she has been murdered. 

Zantz, sleeps in the storage space of a recording company that is going out of business and picks up rides to earn a living. While he cruises he writes song lyrics in his head. His troubled mother died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle.  His sister, technically cousin, Maya, is a successful lawyer with a family.  His friend and confidante, Ephraim Freidberger, known as Double Fry, is also a lost soul.  He lives on a houseboat, which he has christened The Shechinah.  Double Fry studies Torah and is a paparazzi-style photographer for TMZ.  

Adam seems to be looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places. His mother deserted him, now Annie Linden has deserted him.  He decides to pull out his dusty expired Private Investigator ID, uncover Annie’s killer, and clear his own name from the suspect list.

Riding on the soundtrack of the ninety seventies, each chapter heading is a line of song lyrics. 

The reader is along for the ride as Adam cruises the Pacific Coast Highway meeting the people in Annie Linden’s life and trying to eliminate each of them from his suspect list. As he learns the story of Annie's life, she does not turn out to be the person Adam had imagined.   Cruising through the seedy darkside of Los Angeles, Adam stumbles around discovering the truth about damaged relationships and long held family secrets.

Author Daniel Weizmann has come a long way from using his Bar Mitzvah money to start the early  L.A. punk fanzine called Rag in Chains.  With his incredible pop music knowledge he has written a terrific debut fiction mystery novel that looks like the beginning of a series.

Also reviewed on the Jewish Book Council website.

www.jewishbookcouncil.org