Death Becomes Them

For the two authors seated at the picnic table, death is the chief topic at hand--an odd choice considering that this grassy corner of Lincoln Heights, nestled between the two beige buildings of the coroner’s office, is ablaze with the emerald fire of summer. Yet Tony Blanche and Brad Schreiber are eager to discuss their curious new book, “Death in Paradise: an Illustrated History of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner,” due out this month from General Publishing Group. The 192-page tome, with 150 often graphic black-and-white photos, documents the celebrated practice of forensic medicine in Los Angeles, from the 1871 Chinese Massacre to the 1994 murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.

Over a chocolate shake, Blanche, a tanned, distinguished-looking gentleman who has worked as an independent book producer for the Huntington Library and the National Parks Service, describes how an article on the coroner’s gift shop, “Skeletons in the Closet,” sparked his interest in writing a book. “I was fascinated with the merchandising program,” he says of the store, which hawks coffee mugs and coroner toe-tag key chains. Blanche’s collaborator, the wiry, bespectacled Schreiber, teaches story analysis at the American Film Institute. Schreiber, who is “cursed by eclecticism,” as he puts it, explains: “I wasn’t itching to do an autopsy, but I am fascinated with America’s obsession with celebrity--the need to identify with famous people and simultaneously harshly judge their lives.” While Blanche provided historical and literary depth, Schreiber says he served as the cheesy, colorful tabloid guy.

The combination makes the book read like a cross between “Hollywood Babylon” and “Los Angeles A to Z.” Schreiber combed the coroner’s files looking for cases that best represented an era and also said something about the process of determining cause of death; that meant ‘30s bombshell Thelma Todd, who died mysteriously, made the cut, while River Phoenix did not. “A case like River Phoenix overdosing is not that complex in terms of the science and the entire story,” Schreiber says. Blanche adds that Phoenix was in the first draft, but “How many times do you want to talk about a celebrity or a rock star overdosing?” he asks. “The book could have gone on for another 200 pages.”

“I’m not a Black Mass occultist,” says Blanche. “But I do find the convolutions of the macabre fascinating. I like the mental gymnastics of challenging ideas and going to the edge.”