Recent reading: "L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood"

L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood

by Anne Soon Choi

This is a terrific look at the career of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, L.A.'s legendary "coroner to the stars". Noguchi was a fixture in local news during my younger years and I'd always heard he'd done amazing work with the L.A. County Coroner's office. He was regarded as a brilliant pathologist by many, but his political savvy and administrative/management skills were lacking. His most fatal flaw, and the one that eventually cost him the job he loved, was developing an affinity for the limelight, and this book doesn't sugar coat how this affected his reputation and career. At times this weakness made him his own worst enemy.

 

Initially shy of it, Noguchi soon succumbed to the lure of the media spotlight, and this (along with administrative issues in the department) would cost him dearly when he was regarded as overstepping the bounds of his position. Beyond establishing causes of death, he would increasingly lay out for the press his interpretations of crime/death scenes, something that irritated the police and DA's office. He also created a badly conceived "reinactment" of one case with cameras in tow. Finally, following the deaths/autopsies of Hollywood legends William Holden and Natalie Wood in which he gave detailed versions of his interpretations of the deaths to the media, the County Board of Supervisors had enough. These issues combined with managerial disarray at the coroner's office, plus Noguchi's increasingly distracting outside endeavors, resulted in the end of his career as L.A.'s coroner.

Among the high-profile cases covered in the book is the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy and the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Holden, and Wood, as well as the Manson Family Murders. The book is also a revealing look at the racism faced by the Japanese-American community in Los Angeles in the 1960's-1980's, especially in terms of their assimilation back into the city following internment in World War II (Noguchi wasn't among them; he emigrated from Japan after the war ended). 

 

Anne Soon Choi is a local historian and college professor, and the notes in her acknowledgement detailing the research she did for this book are as fascinating as the book itself. If you're a fan of L.A. history (especially the time period Noguchi served as coroner) this is well worth your time. Highly recommended. Disclaimer: I bought this book directly from Anne when she was signing at the Sisters in Crime L.A. booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in April and she was kind enough to sign it for me.

From the book:

With the investigation in its early stages, Noguchi refrained from any speculation. As the chief coroner, his job was to report the cause of death and let the investigation move forward. Subsequently, Noguchi's "perfect autopsy" of Kennedy would become the standard in forensic science and vault him into national prominence in the field.