Note: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
L.A. Coroner is about as much about the politics of criminal investigation as it is a biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, Chief Medical Examiner in LA from 1967 to 1982. That time frame means he was the one in charge of doing the autopsies and some other forensic investigating for the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, victims of the Manson Family, Janis Joplin, and other celebrities. I have little knowledge of this time and place in history, beyond the very general outlines, so getting some close-up detail from a perspective that is not often considered is actually pretty interesting.
I have to admit, I was sort of hoping there would be a little more science, since I like the history of science and it could be relevant here, but there’s still plenty of other factual content. Dr. Noguchi was/is considered a pioneer in forensics, so the narrative of his working through an investigation that might be remembered more generally for other reasons is pretty interesting even without going into any of the scientific specifics. Turns out his auto-biography Coroner was the basis for Quincy MD, which I haven’t really seen, so I went into this kind of expecting a cross between Ducky Mallard and Abby Sciuto from NCIS. Nope on that one. To me reading this felt more like a history than a biography because Dr. Noguchi doesn’t seem to have a lot of personality, although he must have had plenty; he’s also still alive and working in forensic science. There’s so much historical background that needs to be covered, and as a non-history person, I appreciated some of that, so something had to get backgrounded, and in this case, it seems to have been the subject’s personality.
One of two major themes besides the forensics, investigating, etc. in various settings is that Dr. Noguchi apparently liked the spotlight, be it during interviews or press conferences, and this would eventually cause his professional downfall (this comes up in the first few pages of the book, so it’s not spoilers). Conflict between him and other branches of the county government or other investigative bodies is a big presence throughout the book, which mostly focuses on his time in the coroner’s office.
Besides the politics of investigating, there’s another major theme, and it’s made clear right from the introduction, and that’s racism. Dr. Noguchi was the first non-white medical examiner-coroner in the US, and he was also a Japanese immigrant post World War 2, so you add that to the general politics of a criminal investigation, and there’s plenty of room for drama. And drama there is: professional, public, private, even a little bit personal. Second confession, and this is the one bit that actually annoyed me, the style of the writing has a tendency to end sections with dramatic statement like “If only he knew….!” Or “The world would soon learn….!”
So, even though I have a few little complaints, I came away from this one knowing plenty of stuff I didn’t know before, and that’s good enough for me.