Coroner (The Coroner Series Book 1)
By Thomas T. Noguchi with Joseph DiMona

The problem with e-books is that it is so easy to forget to write the review.

After all, when I complete a hard or soft cover book, I can stack and shuffle the books for review on my desk. They become a constant reminder that I have a few reviews to get to (in fact, there are two hardcovers sitting on my desk, ready for me to write them up). E-books, on the other hand, sit in my Kindle app, and once I am done reading it, I put it back in the cloud, easily forgotten if I don’t get to the review immediately.

Anyway, I read this book in January and totally forgot about it until I had posted my latest review and realized by reading the previously published review that I had planned to review Coroner next.

Oops.

So here I am, many months later, finally putting thoughts to e-paper.

Other than New York City, Los Angeles county probably deals with some of the most high-profile cases and Dr Noguchi deal with some of the most notorious. From the death of Marilyn Monroe to the assassination of Robert F Kennedy to the Tate-LaBionca murders, Dr Noguchi, he certainly saw the worst of humanity during his tenure.

Dr Noguchi discusses his more famous cases in as much details as he can as well as some lesser-known deaths. He also details his early life living in Japan. While I usually find these background forays to be of little interest, he does tie in his early years with what made him tick as Chief Medical Examiner.

This is a well-written and fascinating book of both forensics as well as a bit of the politics of the office tossed in for good measure. I found this a really easy lunch-time read.

The e-book was well designed and I didn’t recall having anything causing me to shake my first and cuss out the publisher’s name.

I give this book a solid 4/5 stars.

Eventually, I’ll review Coroner at Large, but I’m in no hurry. I have a number of other books begging for my attention.

Next review: Altered Destinies: Lives Changed by Genetic Flaws by William Stockton

(Review posted 10 May, 2015)