New Bio Blows Lid Off ‘Coroner To The Stars’ Noguchi’s Life

She told us: “What grabbed my attention was that it was in the mystery bin and it was the first time I had seen a book by an Asian American author.

“In the 90s, aside from Amy Tan, there were very few Asian American authors that were publishing trade books, especially true crime.

“I paid a $1 for it and went to a café and started reading and I couldn’t put it down. Here was Dr. Noguchi in the thick of it – Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, RFK, etc., and despite knowing about this history, I had never heard of him.”

At the time, Choi said she was uncertain about her career path but kept the book with her as she moved around.

In 2017, while working on an academic project that required travel, Choi realized a local project on Noguchi might be a better fit. She began researching Noguchi’s history and, by the time the Covid-19 lockdown hit, she had gathered substantial archival material.

When it came time to release the book, Choi told us many publishing houses were more focused on the celebrity cases than telling Noguchi’s full story – but that wasn’t her priority.

She explained: “There are many excellent books about Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, etc. But I wanted to tell Dr. Noguchi’s story and while the cases did play a significant role in the arc of his career, so did the racial politics of the 1960s and 1970s, the postwar history of Japanese Americans, the rise of forensic science and so much more.

“If I couldn’t do right by Dr. Noguchi’s story, I didn’t want to do the project because what would be the point of that?

“I was fortunate that my agent, Michael Signorelli was supportive and in the end found the right home for the project at Third State Books, the first publishing house dedicated to Asian American and Pacific Islander authors and stories.”

Choi has explained how much Noguchi repeated faced scrutiny throughout his career due to his direct remarks and fondness for the spotlight, which ultimately led to his exit from office.

However, she stressed this scrutiny is what highlights the importance of remembering multifaceted Asian American figures – flaws and all.

Choi further expressed how authors of color often face the challenge of being seen as filling a “quota” or being limited to writing only about their personal experiences.

Recognizing the significance of exploring identity in writing, she said: “Writers of color should have the same freedom to write about whatever they want like their white counterparts.

“But I think it’s great that in the last five years there are so many writers of color writing in so many genres but still publishing can do better.”

As a U.S. immigration historian, Choi said her work has focused on Asian American history “most likely because it allows me a way to think about how I as an immigrant fit into the U.S.”

The author also said she is a huge true crime/mystery reader herself, and writing about Noguchi allowed her to have “the best of both worlds.”

She added: “But no matter the subject, I do have to feel a connection to the subject. I like complicated messy narratives because most people’s lives are complicated and messy.”