Customer Reviews

Coroner's Journal: Stalking Death in Louisiana

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Louis Cataldie is an extraordinary man writing an extraordinary book. He was the coroner in the south Louisiana serial murders, a sequence of murders that claimed the life of my very precious daughter. He tells that story with compassion and accuracy. Dr. Cataldie has led a "path-less-chosen" life that is a mystery to most of us. The book is compelling and sobering and filled with stories we should hear and information we should know.
I recommend the man and the book.

Dr. Louis Cataldie is a compassionate and dedicated man who has devoted a great part of his life to helping family members left behind by the death of a loved one. Too bad the Baton Rouge serial killer case did not receive the national, nor the local, coverage it should have gotten. That is why it was so important that Dr. Cataldie had the courage to expose the inexperienced task force investigating these killings.
Without Dr. Cataldie's honesty, many like me would not have had the foresight and courage to do our own investigations.

Thank you, Dr. Cataldie, for the leadership you displayed in every aspect of your duties and responsibilities as Coroner of East Baton Rouge Parish. I will always be grateful to you for not being afraid to do the right things - always!

Lynne Marino,
Mother of Pam Kinamore, serial killer victim.

This was an excellent forensic case book. Not only do you get excellent cases but you also get the author's down to earth personality, concern for life and true emotions. If you enjoy forensic novels and case books - This is a definite must read!!

Coroner's Journal is not a Baton Rouge CSI. It is much more disturbing! Dr. Louis Cataldie will take your hand and walk you through the daily life of a coroner. You will feel the human-ness of the victims, their families, and most of all, Dr. Cataldie. This book is not a fictional account of "how exciting and sexy it is to be a coroner". It is pain, frustration, fear, paranoia, courage, love, determination and a first hand view of good triumphing evil.

Thank you Dr. Cataldie for having the courage to share your heart and soul with the rest of us who don't live in Baton Rouge. Thank you for reminding us that the evil that rips families apart is not fodder for drama. It is a call to work together and love one another.

This book gives you an inside look in the mind of a coroner. The good, the bad and the ugly. It also details cases he has worked on that have impacted him forever. Easy read, he should publish more journals.

This was a very very interesting book. As someone who has lived and worked in and around the neighborhoods where some of the murders written about in this book, it makes me think twice about wanting to know about everything that goes on in the city. It provides very detailed accounts of various death, suicides and murders that took place during Dr. Louis Cataldie's tenure as Coroner of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The book also covers many instances where there was or is presumed to be murders by serial killers that lurk about. Great book! Cheap too!

I thought it was morbid of me to want to read this book...maybe it still is but very interesting!

Just got this interesting book. I am thoroughly enjoying it. One of those books that when you put it down you look forward to coming back to it.

I loved forensics and true-life coroner stories long before CSI graced our television screens, so I was no novice to the genre when I first picked up this book a couple of years ago. That it still resonates with me today - enough to pen a review - should speak volumes to its quality as a biography of a forensic investigator and coroner; it is still one of my top five favorites.

Of them all, however, I have to say that "Coroner's Journal" holds a special place in my heart as it takes place in southern Louisiana - where I was born, raised, and am currently living. Nearly all of the locations Cataldie discusses were familiar to me, as were some of the cases. Others I had never heard, but were fascinated to learn had happened here at home; some of those have stayed with me even two years after first reading this book.

Having this connection made the work come even more alive for me. I was able to visualize a lot of what Cataldie was relaying because of it, but don't let that make you feel you will be missing out by not hailing from the byways and bayous of the Deep South; Cataldie's brilliant, and often touching, work will thrill any fan of coroner work or crime scene investigation.

He also shares previously unpublished and firsthand accounts of working a case on the famous Baton Rouge serial killer (the scourge we all now know as Derrick Todd Lee) and shares his recounting of Lee's most famous and brutal killing. As well, he takes you to some hurricane-ravaged areas in different parts of Louisiana to collect and identify the many dead after the devastation; a monumental and seemingly daunting task. Cataldie is an excellent storyteller, retelling his life's work with a masterful pen while retaining a very personable and compassionate connection to the victims and, also, the reader. I hope someday to meet this amazing, brilliant man and thank him for all he has done to not only make this state safer, but for his work in refining our previously-lacking forensics and crime scene investigation agencies.

All in all, this book was engaging and personable as well as provocative and left nothing wanting for a true fan of this genre.

I love the state of Louisiana and the city of Baton Rouge (red stick) therefore, this book is not only about a subject that interests me but also set in a location that I am familiar with.

At over 300 pages and 15 chapters, it is a very informative and compelling read. Some of the cases presented were thrilling to follow. Others, not so much. However as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and can recommend it to others.

I was especially pleased to note the doctor's opinion of TV versus reality. You have to know that the professionals in the real world get so frustrated with the one-hour mindset of the general public.

I also enjoyed Dr. Bill Bass's book Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

I hope you find my opinion helpful.

Michael L. Gooch
Author of Wingtips with Spurs