Book Review: L.A. Coroner

L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood by Anne Soon Choi


This book implies it’s about celebrities for true crime fans, and I kind of thought it might be, since the titular L.A. Coroner who was involved with so many famous cases and autopsies. But it’s not a memoir, it’s a biography, and there’s an important distinction. It’s not really about the crimes Thomas Noguchi “Coroner to the Stars” helped solve, but about his career. I think if you go into this expecting to get gruesome details not yet revealed about, say, the Manson murders, you’re going to be disappointed. While Noguchi was involved in the investigation on some stupendously famous cases, this isn’t really a true crime novel as such. The cases are presented mostly in how they impacted his career and to set the biography in the Los Angeles of the mid-20th century.

This book isn’t about serial killers or celebrities so much as it’s about political and racial tensions in Los Angeles in the 1960s through 1980s. This isn’t a time I knew much about; I’d never heard of this guy until holding the book in my hands. Two in-depth chapters deal with the post-war anti-Japanese racism of the 1950s and 1960s and how it was an uphill battle for Noguchi to be hired in the first place. He made enemies along the way, and had to build a coalition of anti-racist political organizations to keep from being ousted.

It’s not just about anti-Asian racism though; two of the cases profiled in this book deliberately deal with black men murdered by L.A. Cops, touching on the Watts riots and Deadwyler’s murder, and then again the murder of Ron Setton (declared a jailhouse suicide) decades later. Noguchi’s a complicated guy, and it was a complicated time. Initially resistant to cite racism when he was forced to resign based on racially-motivated political reasons, he’s also quick to side with the LAPD, even if it meant ignoring inconvenient evidence. I think they’re part and parcel of the same tenet: a deeply held belief in meritocracy and the rule of law, even in the face of contradicting evidence.

Like many famous people, it’s Noguchi’s narcissism and hubris that eventually brings him down. His passion for the spotlight and his inability to form alliances eventually leads to his removal from the office. I recommend this book for people who are interested in learning more about the relationship between politics and law enforcement in California in the 20th century.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for my review.



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