Created by Daniel Weizmann
“Now isn’t it a pity, isn’t it a shame,
No one ever warned the boy, Rock n’ roll is a vicious game…”
— April Wine
This Zantz can dance–or at least one would hope so, given his love of rock’n’roll.
In the “Pacific Coast Highway Mysteries” (that’s how the series is billed), ADAM ZANTZ is a Los Angeles-based songwriter and former private investigator who’s not exactly setting the world on fire. And so he keeps food on the table and the wolf from the door by working a side-gig as a Lyft driver, driving his battered and bruised VW Jetta up and down the mean (and noir-tinged) streets of the City of Angels.
He’s not a P.I. anymore (his license expired years ago), but he does seem to be a something of a shit magnet. It’s easy to see him as a modern day spin on John K. Butler‘s pulp-era cabbie Steve Midnight, and all the other hacks who, when trouble waves them down, always pull over.
In his debut, 2023’s The Last Songbird, he’s looking into the death of his good friend and mentor, Annie Linden, a 1970s superstar out in Malibu whose body was found washed up under a pier. In its 2024 sequel, Cinnamon Girl, he’s tasked to look into the innocence of an old friend’s son, convicted of murder years ago.
In both cases, the shadow of Chandler may loom large, but its the rock’n’roll heart beating at its core–the fertile world of singers, songwriters, slimy music execs, drugs, madmen drummers, missing master tapes, band rivalries, groupies, test pressings, roadies, garage bands, crooked DJs, backstage misbehavior, royalty ripoffs and all the rest–that cuts this series from the herd. It practically reeks of old vinyl.
UNDER OATH
- “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 on The Last Songbird - “Evocative, nostalgic, haunting, twisty, and true, Weizmann’s fast paced and smartly written CINNAMON GIRL is everything there is to love about a classic PI novel and more … much more.”
— Reed Farrel Coleman
NOVELS
- The Last Songbird (2023) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Cinnamon Girl (2024) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Death Flags a Cab
Taxi-Driving Eyes (and Limos Too!)
