Breaking Blue: How One Man's Hunt Through a Half Century of Police Cover-Ups Unlocked The... [Paperback]

Timothy Egan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

A classic piece of investigative journalism previously out of print, Breaking Blue is an engrossing must-read for anyone interested in Northwest history. Timothy Egan's page-turning account vividly recreates the rough-and-tumble days of Spokane and Eastern Washington during the Depression, as it tracks an unfolding murder and a half-century effort to conceal the truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1935, Spokane, Wash., was in the sixth year of the Great Depression. Unemployment was high. Civilian Conservation Corps workers were arriving in droves from the East for the Grand Coulee Dam project. Crime was rampant, and a series of creamery robberies had the town on edge. Then, on Sept. 4, the Pend Oreille County town marshal investigating these crimes was murdered. The mystery of George Conniff's death went unsolved until 1989, when Tony Bamonte, sheriff of Pend Oreille County and a graduate student, inadvertently uncovered information that generations of police had conspired to keep hidden. Egan ( The Good Rain ), Seattle bureau chief for the New York Times, lumbers occasionally, but his account of the reopened investigation generally resonates with regional color. Bamonte's investigation of the killing started as scholarly research, but stepped up when "a convergence of conscience and coincidence" suggested that the marshal had been shot by a cop protecting colleagues associated with the robberies. In a deathbed confession, a cop revealed that the Spokane police were involved in more than "a conspiracy of small corruptions." Egan evocatively resurrects the scenes and raw insensitivities of '30s police life in the region, from Mother's Place, the diner where cops plotted their heists, to the Hotel de Gink, where transients stayed.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the course of preparing a master's thesis on law enforcement in Pend Oreille County, Washington, Sheriff Tony Bamonte discovered new evidence relating to the 1935 murder of Town Marshal George Conniff. Bamonte uncovered documents that implicated another police officer in the murder and also revealed a widespread cover-up by the Spokane Police Department. Already unpopular because of his confrontations with the lumber industry and his criticism of other law-enforcement agencies, Bamonte further angered the police community by disregarding the code that forbids going after a fellow police officer--"breaking blue." Tracking down witnesses who verified his suspicions, Bamonte turned his efforts to a search for the murder weapon, a gun thrown into a river more than 50 years earlier. The trail eventually led him to a final surprising discovery, which in turn was capped by an even greater irony. Egan, Seattle bureau chief of the New York Times , tells this remarkable story with a journalist's thoroughness and a novelist's ability to evoke place and character. The tale is rich in history and suspense and is recommended for all crime collections.
-Ben Harrison, East Orange P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books; Pbk. ed edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570610606
• ISBN-13: 978-1570610608
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,149,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

TIMOTHY EGAN is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of five books, most recently The Worst Hard Time, which won a National Book Award for nonfiction and was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, a New York Times Notable Book, a Washington State Book Award winner, and a Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book. He writes a weekly column, "Outposts," for the New York Times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Then and Now . . . A GOOD read for anyone!, May 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Richland WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking Blue: How One Man's Hunt Through a Half Century of Police Cover-Ups Unlocked The... (Paperback)

I just discovered 'Timothy Egan'. That he has done extensive research is obvious. I first read "Lasso the Wind", a history lesson of the Pacific Northwest. I grew up here and there is much that I had never even heard of, I admit I am hooked. I will ALWAYS read anything I can find by Mr. Egan. When finishing "Lasso the Wind" I immediately went looking for anything else I could find by Mr. Egan. I found "Breaking Blue". It is fascinating! What one live sheriff did for a murdered sheriff, a police officer and detective did to a sheriff, and how the Spokane Police Chief handled it . . . It is a compelling read. You won't be disappointed but you will probably be astounded. People are the same all over. If you checked out Seattle, Chicago, New York etc. you will most certainly find "The good, the bad and the ugly". If you like Mysteries you will like this, if you like True Crime you will like this. If you just plain enjoy good reading, you will like this. I don't see how you could go wrong with Mr. Timothy Egan.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than "True Crime", September 1, 2000

By 

E. Martin (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking Blue: How One Man's Hunt Through a Half Century of Police Cover-Ups Unlocked The... (Paperback)

Egan goes beyond the typical "true crime" formula to explore a hidden history and sub-culture. His depictions of the regional character resonated with me (a former, recent, Spokanite and Washingtonian born and bred). As one reviewer pointed out, the corruption Egan plunges the reader into is still a powerful force in the region today -- an ugly undercurrent that, in order to remain there, most find necessary to turn a blind eye to. "Breaking Blue" manages to weave several complex elements into a highly readable story without condescending to, or losing, the reader. "The Good Rain" is another masterful study of the Northwest Egan fans may want to read.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quest For Justice Symbolically Succeeded, February 24, 2003

By 

K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breaking Blue: How One Man's Hunt Through a Half Century of Police Cover-Ups Unlocked The... (Paperback)

In addition to being a real-life investigative crime solving book, Eagan's descriptive writing in "Breaking Blue" touched upon many areas that brought the people of the 1930s and this part of the country to life. The natural beauty of the inland Pacific Northwest in the setting of the Great Depression. Hobos, gambling, (...), saloons, opium dens, Nez Perce tribe and police corruption. This work provides a historical glimpse, within its' investigation, which ultimately led to success. Tony Bamonte, A County Sheriff in Pen Oreille County in eastern Washington state, turned his 500 page Master's Thesis into a murder-case solver.

Clyde Ralstin lived a life in the West in some fashion of the Wild Wild West. After he committed the murder, he was fingered out by a fellow detective in the police department. The detective was ordered by his superiors to stop the investigation and be quiet. At the same time, Ralstin left town. Files on both men "disappeared." But many statements and investigations were all uncovered by Bamonte. Living out his final years in Montana, Ralstin was aware of the tightening noose around his neck for what he did 54 years before. The stress and anxiety he experienced, which ultimately help end his life, was the only small amount of justice he received.

Some people close to Ralstin actually accused Bamonte of causing trouble and being the problem. Such is sometimes the twisted loyalty of the blue line, when a member commits wrong doing, even the murder of a fellow police officer. Ralstin stated, "the whole department was crooked back then. Why are they coming after me?"

Bamonte submitted his Master's thesis to his professor at Gonzaga University with trepidation. Is this 500 page piece of work going to be scoffed at, rejected, or laughed at? His professor said it was the most intriguing thesis he'd ever encountered. After some media attention over this 54 year-old local murder case, some turned the tables on Bamonte. During Bamonte's re-election campaign in 1990, the Spokane police chief held 3 press conferences publicly criticizing Bamonte. Actions like this are unheard of. Bamonte lost the election. Why did the the Spokane police chief do this? Because Bamonte was investigating a similar murder in his jurisdiction.

After Clyde Ralstin died 1989, the murder case was closed.