L.A. Coroner

L.A. Coroner is a gripping true crime biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the controversial “Coroner to the Stars,” who performed the autopsies of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, and Natalie Wood. It blends Hollywood celebrity and death, Asian American history, and Los Angeles history in a feat of exquisite storytelling.

It is the first ever biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner of the County of Los Angeles from 1967 to 1982. Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Noguchi conducted the official autopsies of some of the most high-profile personalities of his time. His elaborate press conferences, which often generated more controversy than they did answers, catapulted him into the public eye.

Noguchi was also the inspiration for the popular 1970s/80s television drama Quincy, M.E., starring Jack Klugman. Featuring never-before-published details about Noguchi’s most controversial cases, L.A. Coroner is a mesmerizing, meticulously researched true crime biography, set against the backdrop of the racial politics of the 1960s and 1970s and Hollywood celebrity culture.