Anne Soon Choi is bringing the story of celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi back into the public eye.

On April 22, alumnus and award-winning historian Choi is set to publish “L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood,” her biography on Noguchi, the chief medical examiner in Los Angeles County from 1967 to 1982. During his nearly 15 years in office, Noguchi performed the autopsies of various high profile cases including the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy and Natalie Wood. Colloquially nicknamed the “coroner to the stars,” Noguchi became the subject of much controversy as a late-20th century semi-celebrity – and yet, Choi said his historical impact has been largely forgotten.

“Without Thomas Noguchi, you would not have the whole CSI franchise. You would not have, in fact, true crime in the way that you have true crime today,” Choi said. “All the things around death investigations and the coroners and the medicine – that is Thomas Noguchi’s influence.”

[Related: Book review: Aria Aber’s culturally charged novel discovers what it means to be a ‘Good Girl’]

Despite this, Choi’s biography will be the first book written about Noguchi in the over 40 years that have passed since he held his county position, excluding Noguchi’s own autobiographical work.

Choi said she first stumbled upon Noguchi’s work when she found his memoir “Coroner” in the dollar bin at the front of New York’s Strand Book Store in the ‘90s. Decades later, she said the book was still floating around her house, and Noguchi was still nagging at the corner of her mind.

After finally having the time to finish researching his story when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Choi said her article, “The Japanese American Citizens League, Los Angeles Politics, and the Thomas Noguchi Case,” was published in May of that year. Choi added that the article went on to win the Francis M. Wheat Award for exceptional historical research and became the foundation for Choi’s forthcoming biography.

“I think it’s very important, particularly for communities of color and for Asian Americans, to see more complicated renderings of themselves in culture,” Choi said. “He was not easygoing. He would push back, and he was a difficult person. It’s usually that kind of person that makes for an interesting biography. If they’re super nice, you’re done by page three.”

Noguchi came under scrutiny multiple times during his career for his blunt commentary and attraction to the limelight, Choi said. The culmination of such controversies eventually led to his departure from office. But Choi added that this scrutiny highlighted the importance of remembering multi-faceted Asian American figures, especially when they are flawed.

She added that the publishing industry has historically shown little interest in highlighting ethnic stories when the subjects are too complicated or complex. Yet, that philosophy limits stories about people of color to a very narrow box of possibilities, she said.

“There is a sense that publishers want certain kinds of stories from writers of color, and if your story doesn’t fit the narrative they want, then they don’t want it,” Choi said.

When Choi first started the publishing process for “L.A. Coroner,” she said some publishing houses wanted her to divert focus away from Noguchi to the celebrity superstars whose deaths were featured in his career. While those stories are important, she said this particular story is not about them.

The pigeonholing of people of color extends beyond just the subjects of stories – to the authors themselves, Choi said. When Choi was first beginning to write, she recalled being actively discouraged from pursuing a career as an author.

In the spirit of working outside of any one given literary niche, Choi said she is already onto her next book. This time, Choi said it’s not a biography at all, rather it’s a mystery-thriller fiction novel already well underway. What she really loves, she said, is true crime and mysteries, and this next book gets to explore that.

“Anne has always been inspiring in her ability to commit to writing,” said Marisela Chavez, professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University Dominguez Hills and Choi’s longtime friend. “It’s exciting to see somebody who comes from the academic world published in a trade press and to see what doors that opens for her and what might come of this particular book,” she added. “It’s really highlighting the multifaceted and really interesting history of LA in all of its multiracial complexities and history and how they intersect.”

While Choi worked on “L.A. Coroner,” she took part in a writing group with Chavez and two other women that they had created to hold each other accountable as they worked on projects in their respective academic fields.

They called it the “Lady Writeathon Group,” said Donna Nicol, a close friend of Choi’s and one of the four members in their writing group.

At the time, all four of the women were department chairs, professors and historians who worked together at California State University, Dominguez Hills. They would meet on Zoom every Wednesday morning during the lockdown to talk about where they were in their writing process or set a timer to do “writing sprints” together. Both Nicol and Chavez have since published their own works.

“Anne is very outspoken and stands up for her students and her faculty, and I admire that about her,” Nicol said. “I’m a straight shooter, so I think that that connection was formed pretty quickly. … From the outside, she has an incredible work ethic. But I think that work ethic comes from really being passionate about her work. It’s not work for her – I think these are really passion projects.”

[Related: Alyssa Murray discusses mental health in her self-published book ‘The A-Word’]

Nicol said she finds Noguchi’s story particularly interesting, especially after watching Choi’s excitement after each discovery throughout the research process. She explained that she appreciated how Choi’s work deviated from the sensationalism surrounding celebrity death to look at how Noguchi’s own ambition influenced his ability to navigate the Japanese American community.

Choi said that one of Noguchi’s most compelling characteristics was the swagger with which he faced his own mistakes. He was unapologetically himself, she said, and it’s important to trace back the ways he has influenced and shaped American culture.

“I think these stories are really, again, important, to the community,” Choi said. “But not just Asian Americans. It’s the people at large that should know about Thomas Noguchi.”