Breaking Blue, Timothy Egan
Breaking Blue, Timothy Egan
1 Rating(s)
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Breaking Blue

Author: Timothy Egan

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 9 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/02/2017


Synopsis

In 1935, the Spokane police regularly extorted sex, food, and money from the reluctant hobos (many of them displaced farmers who had fled the midwestern dust bowls), robbed dairies, and engaged in all manner of nefarious crimes, including murder. This history was suppressed until 1989, when former logger, Vietnam vet, and Spokane cop Tony Bamonte discovered a strange 1955 deathbed confession while researching a thesis on local law enforcement history.Bamonte began to probe what had every appearance of widespread police crime and a massive cover-up whose highlight was the unsolved murder of Town Marshall George Conff. The fact that many of those involved, now in their 80s and 90s, were still alive made it imperative that Bamonte unravel this mystery. The result is Breaking Blue, a white-knuckle ride through institutional corruption and cover-up that vividly documents Depression-era Spokane and an extraordinary case that few believed would ever be brought to light.

About Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan is a national enterprise reporter for the New York Times. He is the author of four books and the recipient of several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Seattle.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Donald on August 20, 2021

I could not put this book down. I read this during a visit to Flathead County, Montana after spending the night in a hotel in downtown Sp0kane. This engrossing true story is about the history of the depression, this part of the Northwest, law enforcement and the travails of fascinating individuals.......more

Goodreads review by Martin on January 19, 2014

Timothy Egan is an important Western writer. Not a writer of Westerns, but a Western writer. He documents forgotten stories of the American West, with a particular emphasis on the Northwest. Among his more important works are The Worst Hard Time (which departs from his usual northwestern setting and......more