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Mendocino Noir: Crimes Large and Small

by Bruce Anderson & Mark Scaramella
illustrated by Frederick Sternkopf
paperback: 342 pages
published July 4, 2009

Introduction

Mendocino Noir: Crimes Large and SmallThese stories comprise volume two of the Mendocino Papers, an ongoing project whose ultimate ambition it is to serve as an informal history of Mendocino County. Many of you will groan at the surfeit of detail in some of the tellings, but that detail, I think, helps the reader understand the broader social-political functioning of the county at the time the crimes were committed. The two most detail-laden accounts begin and end the book. The Fort Bragg Fires of 1987, the first story, occurred in a virtual blizzard of cocaine whose distributors recycled their profits into legitmate businesses. That's the short version. The long version is a complicated story of compromised bankers, crooked insurance agents, the then-corrupted local government of Fort Bragg and, at the county level, dereliction in the District Attorney's office where the arsonists, who may also have committed murder, went unprosecuted. This story can't be told in a page or two, and we are indebted to Roanne Withers and Mark Heimann for their help with research. The Murder of Donald Perez, the concluding story, might also be told in a few pages but, we think, profits from the many perspectives of the event offered by the killers, their lawyers, cops, investigators, friends, and parents. In between these sagas, there's a lengthy account of Fort Bragg's latter-day witch hunt of the Orr Sisters during the literal hysteria arising from the non-existent phenomenon of Satanist child abuse. Not that all of the stories are as unrelievedly grim as these. A few, I hope, are funny. But when bad people and civic irresponsibility coincide, as they often do here, vast Mendocino County becomes a dangerously unpredictable place.

The Stories

  1. The Fort Bragg Fires
  2. The Biggest Little Crook in Ukiah
  3. Killed Without Dying: Rape in Laytonville
  4. Naked Woman in the Side Pocket
  5. Boonville's Poison Sandwich
  6. Dr. Wonderlick's Lugar
  7. One Murder, Four Deaths
  8. The Great Fort Bragg Witch Hunt
  9. Tod Sutherland: Wrong Man, Wrong Place
  10. Monica's Walk on the Wild Side
  11. Deputy Gander's Halloween Party
  12. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
  13. The Victim Didn't Smoke
  14. Where Are They, Jimmy?
  15. The Hunter As Prey
  16. Tree Rustling, Fort Bragg Style

Get Your Copy

  • $20 from the author (includes postage)
  • send your request (and check) to: AVA, Box 459, Boonville, CA 95415
  • also available at amazon.com

9 Comments

  1. Wendy J Swales March 21, 2021

    Do you still have this issue available I’m the widow of ed brown
    And had no idea you even wrote this book

    • Bruce Anderson March 21, 2021

      Which story are you looking for, Ms. Swales?

      • Wendy J Swales March 21, 2021

        In fort Bragg Calif 1988 my husband Ed Brown was found dead in a home bobby Jenkins was found in ocean a few days later. I thought it was listed in this book

  2. Wendy J Swales March 21, 2021

    I thought chapter 7

  3. Wendy J Swales March 21, 2021

    If you do or do not please let me know . if so I want to read it asap
    My life was in danger if I got involved worked with Scott Mayberry police etc…

    • Bruce Anderson March 21, 2021

      I don’t think we covered this one, Ms. Swales. Sorry.

      • Wendy J Swales March 22, 2021

        Wow that was he’ll of a story thank you for responding.

  4. Markila madcat March 21, 2021

    I knew someone was listening while they were all pointlessly bantering….pointless banter

  5. Wendy J Swales March 22, 2021

    Markups mad at what did you mean?

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