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Breaking Blue
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.
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 1992
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About the author
Timothy Egan
26Ìýbooks1,814ÌýfollowersTimothy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of nine books, including THE WORST HARD TIME, which won the National Book Award. His latest book, A PILGRIMAGE TO ETERNITY, is a personal story, a journey over an ancient trail, and a history of Christianity. He also writes a biweekly opinion column for The New York Times. HIs book on the photographer Edward Curtis, SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER, won the Carnegie Medal for best nonfiction. His Irish-American book, THE IMMORTAL IRISHMAN, was a New York Times bestseller. A third-generation native of the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Seattle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
June 30, 2024
Police reform has become a hot button topic over the last decade or so. Just because one puts on a badge or uniform every morning does not give a person the right to injury, maim, or even kill every person who crosses their path. Even though this has become the issue that it is in the 21st century, police officers doing what they please has its origins in the rough and tumble Wild West. The American west of cowboys, Indians, and shoot em ups are the images that come to mind, but into a good portion of the 20th century, people headed west to lose themselves. In western towns where the news from New York and Washington barely registered a blip on the radar, people did as the pleased, and a badge signified power. In one of the early books of now esteemed author Timothy Egan, he tackles a case from the 1930s where having a badge meant taking the law into your own hands. No one can craft a true story of life in the contemporary west better than Egan, so I knew that even if this was an early work of his, I would be in for a doozy of a tale.
Spokane, Washington in the eastern portion of the state is home to some of the most pristine land left in the contiguous forty eight states. Egan, as he is apt to do, sets the stage for this story by taking the time to describe the environment. His family has lived in Washington for at least five generations and he is proud of his origins. Tony Bamonte is only a second generation westerner but truly in touch with the land. His father Bull Bamonte fled the impoverished streets of the Bronx and landed in Pend d’Oreille County, Washington. The land had been forecefully taken from the native Americans, and Egan describes the encounters between the Nez Percé and Colonel George Wright, a dark mark on history. Pend Oreille became the last pocket of land to be incorporated as a county in Washington and since the times of the Great Depression has only had nine police sheriffs. Earlier each principality governed itself, usually with a police force that did not require applicants to have much more than a high school education. These were men raised on the land, as Tony Bamonte would be half a century later, who might have been bullies, and created the law as they pleased. A dispute at home, vagrancy, and even petty theft and misdemeanors would not register on the police docket if the defendant was a friend of the officer. Police graft came to a head during the Great Depression, where life in Spokane epitomized a western city during the dark days of American history.
My favorite positive account of the Depression has always been Fried Green Tomatoes. What it has to do with a true crime book is that in a small southern town, the inhabitants had no concept of what was unfolding in society as a whole. There was always food in the cafe and children continued the same way of life as they had been doing for decades. One could say the same of Spokane to an extent. Speakeasies and brothels ran freely with cutbacks to the police, and officers gathered at Mother’s Cafe after work. At mothers, the waitresses flirted and somehow there was always food. One would have no idea that there was no money anywhere to be found inside the cafe’s walls or in Spokane as a whole until the passage of the Conservation Construction Corps. The job creation program brought hundreds of thousands of unemployed people to Spokane looking for work on the newly proposed Grand Coulee Dam. The hobos slept in tents near the train depot and created their own version of Hooverville. Cops had no concept of poverty because they still received cutbacks from speakeasy operations even after the repeal of Prohibition and received all the free food they desired inside of Mother’s. It was at this locale that Clyde Ralstin was king. He and owner Virgil Burch schemed up ways to get rich quick and hid the evidence. The law- Ralstin was the law. On September 14, 1935 the two men along with ex-con Acie Logan robbed the Newport Creamery in another one of their schemes. Unfortunately for the two men, town marshal George Conniff heard the commotion and meant to stop it. Ralstin silenced him, taking the law into his own hands once again. Spokane police covered for him and the murder went unsolved until Bamote discovered the report fifty years later.
Tony Bamonte is a living example that one’s origins do not determine one’s station in life. His mother left the family after committing continuous adulterous acts. His father Bull was not an ideal parent but he provided for his children and made sure they had a roof over their heads. Tony would rather work the land than go to school and his lack of education showed. Eventually, he served in Vietnam before the war started and then eight years on the Spokane police force. He was never one of them because his idea of a cop was to uphold justice and in the 1960s, the force was still one of graft. Disillusioned, he eventually left the force and returned to his native Metaline Falls, where he married and eventually got elected sheriff of Pend d’Oreille County three times. Even as sheriff, other officials and police viewed Bamonte as an outsider. He would not abuse his position just because the people of his county elected him. It was at this time that Bamonte enrolled in a graduate history program at Gonzaga University, attempting to make up for his lack of education from his youth. For his graduate thesis, he decided to write about the history of police sheriffs in Pend d’Oreille County. His research would amass five hundred pages as Bamonte became a historian; he unearthed an unsolved case from 1935 and decided that it would be the centerpiece of his research. He would use his position for good rather than graft and set about to solve the Newport Creamery murder, running into countless obstacles along the way. Bamonte, both the student and sheriff, believed in justice, for the Conniff family and the people of Pend d’Oreille. His research came at the expense of his family and job but he set out to change history for the good.
As a western reporter for the New York Times, Timothy Egan discovered the story of Tony Bamonte. A budding writer, he thought it would make a good book. Breaking Blue is only Egan’s second book. While he transitioned from journalist to full time historian, one can see the influences in his early writing. His first few books are not as polished because he is used to turning in shorter pieces for the newspaper. One can sense this because in both Breaking Blue and his first book the Good Rain, Egan writes shorter chapters that are more vignette style than an actual book that flows from start to finish. This book is an important micro historical incident in American history that speaks of police graft. Egan set the stage for his later career as he uncovered more gems about the American west that would become full length books. I have read most of his earlier work now, and all of it tell of his love for the west. Even when he wrote for the Times, he still based himself in Seattle; he is a westerner through and through. While not as polished as his award winning later work, Egan still crafts a compelling story that held my attention. It would be a stepping stone to later tales of both the west and the Great Depression that would win him awards, and, hopefully he will unearth more unsung heroes like Tony Bamonte. America needs more people like him.
3.5 stars rounded up
Spokane, Washington in the eastern portion of the state is home to some of the most pristine land left in the contiguous forty eight states. Egan, as he is apt to do, sets the stage for this story by taking the time to describe the environment. His family has lived in Washington for at least five generations and he is proud of his origins. Tony Bamonte is only a second generation westerner but truly in touch with the land. His father Bull Bamonte fled the impoverished streets of the Bronx and landed in Pend d’Oreille County, Washington. The land had been forecefully taken from the native Americans, and Egan describes the encounters between the Nez Percé and Colonel George Wright, a dark mark on history. Pend Oreille became the last pocket of land to be incorporated as a county in Washington and since the times of the Great Depression has only had nine police sheriffs. Earlier each principality governed itself, usually with a police force that did not require applicants to have much more than a high school education. These were men raised on the land, as Tony Bamonte would be half a century later, who might have been bullies, and created the law as they pleased. A dispute at home, vagrancy, and even petty theft and misdemeanors would not register on the police docket if the defendant was a friend of the officer. Police graft came to a head during the Great Depression, where life in Spokane epitomized a western city during the dark days of American history.
My favorite positive account of the Depression has always been Fried Green Tomatoes. What it has to do with a true crime book is that in a small southern town, the inhabitants had no concept of what was unfolding in society as a whole. There was always food in the cafe and children continued the same way of life as they had been doing for decades. One could say the same of Spokane to an extent. Speakeasies and brothels ran freely with cutbacks to the police, and officers gathered at Mother’s Cafe after work. At mothers, the waitresses flirted and somehow there was always food. One would have no idea that there was no money anywhere to be found inside the cafe’s walls or in Spokane as a whole until the passage of the Conservation Construction Corps. The job creation program brought hundreds of thousands of unemployed people to Spokane looking for work on the newly proposed Grand Coulee Dam. The hobos slept in tents near the train depot and created their own version of Hooverville. Cops had no concept of poverty because they still received cutbacks from speakeasy operations even after the repeal of Prohibition and received all the free food they desired inside of Mother’s. It was at this locale that Clyde Ralstin was king. He and owner Virgil Burch schemed up ways to get rich quick and hid the evidence. The law- Ralstin was the law. On September 14, 1935 the two men along with ex-con Acie Logan robbed the Newport Creamery in another one of their schemes. Unfortunately for the two men, town marshal George Conniff heard the commotion and meant to stop it. Ralstin silenced him, taking the law into his own hands once again. Spokane police covered for him and the murder went unsolved until Bamote discovered the report fifty years later.
Tony Bamonte is a living example that one’s origins do not determine one’s station in life. His mother left the family after committing continuous adulterous acts. His father Bull was not an ideal parent but he provided for his children and made sure they had a roof over their heads. Tony would rather work the land than go to school and his lack of education showed. Eventually, he served in Vietnam before the war started and then eight years on the Spokane police force. He was never one of them because his idea of a cop was to uphold justice and in the 1960s, the force was still one of graft. Disillusioned, he eventually left the force and returned to his native Metaline Falls, where he married and eventually got elected sheriff of Pend d’Oreille County three times. Even as sheriff, other officials and police viewed Bamonte as an outsider. He would not abuse his position just because the people of his county elected him. It was at this time that Bamonte enrolled in a graduate history program at Gonzaga University, attempting to make up for his lack of education from his youth. For his graduate thesis, he decided to write about the history of police sheriffs in Pend d’Oreille County. His research would amass five hundred pages as Bamonte became a historian; he unearthed an unsolved case from 1935 and decided that it would be the centerpiece of his research. He would use his position for good rather than graft and set about to solve the Newport Creamery murder, running into countless obstacles along the way. Bamonte, both the student and sheriff, believed in justice, for the Conniff family and the people of Pend d’Oreille. His research came at the expense of his family and job but he set out to change history for the good.
As a western reporter for the New York Times, Timothy Egan discovered the story of Tony Bamonte. A budding writer, he thought it would make a good book. Breaking Blue is only Egan’s second book. While he transitioned from journalist to full time historian, one can see the influences in his early writing. His first few books are not as polished because he is used to turning in shorter pieces for the newspaper. One can sense this because in both Breaking Blue and his first book the Good Rain, Egan writes shorter chapters that are more vignette style than an actual book that flows from start to finish. This book is an important micro historical incident in American history that speaks of police graft. Egan set the stage for his later career as he uncovered more gems about the American west that would become full length books. I have read most of his earlier work now, and all of it tell of his love for the west. Even when he wrote for the Times, he still based himself in Seattle; he is a westerner through and through. While not as polished as his award winning later work, Egan still crafts a compelling story that held my attention. It would be a stepping stone to later tales of both the west and the Great Depression that would win him awards, and, hopefully he will unearth more unsung heroes like Tony Bamonte. America needs more people like him.
3.5 stars rounded up
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. There is no "happy ending" with some true stories but there is a meaningful and rich discussion of the twists and turns of the human condition. Duty, sacrifice, hard work love, marriage and abject psychcopothy are well developed and examined themes.
January 20, 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 focuses on the people in the plains states during the Dust Bowl), Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, and my personal favorite, The Big Burn, which opens with twenty of the most compelling pages of prose I've read in the past several years. When he's at his best, both in style and in choice of subject, he's one of the greatest non-fiction writers out there; when his subject is less interesting or his style a little less developed--as I felt during the first half of Breaking Blue, only his second book--he's still one of the best non-fiction writers out there.
Breaking Blue tells the story of a police cover-up in the town of Spokane, a 1935 cop-killing in which the murderer is another cop--a corrupt, brutal, but larger-than-life character named Clyde Ralstin, who shoots a marshal named George Conniff while participating in a burglary of a creamery. That's right: Ralstin was a moonlighting as a butter thief. And while it may seem hard at first to take seriously the subject of Depression era butter-burglary gangs--as thievery goes, it ain't exactly the Lufthansa Heist or a Wall Street hedge fund--the death of Conniff was a heinous crime that demanded justice--and received none. Clyde Ralstin had too much dirt on too many people in Spokane, and if he were to fall, he would take them with him.
It is fifty-four years before Anthony Bamonte, a nearby sheriff working on a master's thesis on the history of law enforcement in eastern Washington, rediscovers the case and begins asking some uncomfortable and impertinent questions of the Spokane police department, which still seems intent on covering up the obvious guilt of one of their own. I found this aspect of the story--Bamonte's persistence in the face of stonewalling, attacks on him in the press, and the outright refusal of Spokane PD to cooperate in his investigation--to be the best part of reading Breaking Blue. To put it simply, it took me several days to read the first 100 rather ho-hum pages, but only a day to read the last 150.
Such is the power, I think, of people's desire to see justice done. When the narrative reaches this point, I found myself furiously gobbling up pages, eager to see the sonofabitch Ralstin--who is, Bamonte discovers deep into his investigation, still alive--punished for his crime. Along the way, Bamonte faces the stiff resistance of Ralstin's fellow citizens in a small Montana town, who regard him as a heroic figure who, even if guilty, deserves to live out his few remaining days in peace. But Bamonte is driven on by his own conscience (he considers himself "the voice of the dead") and by Conniff's orphaned children, also advanced in age, who wish to see justice done for the murder of their beloved father.
Cold-Case Files could do a two-hour special on this one, but it would fail to achieve the level of pathos Egan touches here. His stories are always rooted in the land, in this case the spoiled and defoliated region around the Spokane and Pend Oreille rivers, waterways which once supported whole civilizations with their now-extinct salmon runs. Egan understands that the stories that come out of the American West are the product of greed, rapaciousness, and--as Bamonte's own life suggests--rampant loneliness. It is a vision of the West that is a far cry from the triumphalist Manifest Destiny cliches that inform our usual view.
Breaking Blue tells the story of a police cover-up in the town of Spokane, a 1935 cop-killing in which the murderer is another cop--a corrupt, brutal, but larger-than-life character named Clyde Ralstin, who shoots a marshal named George Conniff while participating in a burglary of a creamery. That's right: Ralstin was a moonlighting as a butter thief. And while it may seem hard at first to take seriously the subject of Depression era butter-burglary gangs--as thievery goes, it ain't exactly the Lufthansa Heist or a Wall Street hedge fund--the death of Conniff was a heinous crime that demanded justice--and received none. Clyde Ralstin had too much dirt on too many people in Spokane, and if he were to fall, he would take them with him.
It is fifty-four years before Anthony Bamonte, a nearby sheriff working on a master's thesis on the history of law enforcement in eastern Washington, rediscovers the case and begins asking some uncomfortable and impertinent questions of the Spokane police department, which still seems intent on covering up the obvious guilt of one of their own. I found this aspect of the story--Bamonte's persistence in the face of stonewalling, attacks on him in the press, and the outright refusal of Spokane PD to cooperate in his investigation--to be the best part of reading Breaking Blue. To put it simply, it took me several days to read the first 100 rather ho-hum pages, but only a day to read the last 150.
Such is the power, I think, of people's desire to see justice done. When the narrative reaches this point, I found myself furiously gobbling up pages, eager to see the sonofabitch Ralstin--who is, Bamonte discovers deep into his investigation, still alive--punished for his crime. Along the way, Bamonte faces the stiff resistance of Ralstin's fellow citizens in a small Montana town, who regard him as a heroic figure who, even if guilty, deserves to live out his few remaining days in peace. But Bamonte is driven on by his own conscience (he considers himself "the voice of the dead") and by Conniff's orphaned children, also advanced in age, who wish to see justice done for the murder of their beloved father.
Cold-Case Files could do a two-hour special on this one, but it would fail to achieve the level of pathos Egan touches here. His stories are always rooted in the land, in this case the spoiled and defoliated region around the Spokane and Pend Oreille rivers, waterways which once supported whole civilizations with their now-extinct salmon runs. Egan understands that the stories that come out of the American West are the product of greed, rapaciousness, and--as Bamonte's own life suggests--rampant loneliness. It is a vision of the West that is a far cry from the triumphalist Manifest Destiny cliches that inform our usual view.
February 17, 2013
Very timely even though the case this book covers is in 1935. Not much has changed in law enforcement here in Spokane. We just had the announcement today of the chief of police retiring and her second in command all when the Otto Zehm case is being looked at as being handled wrong. It is sad the corruption still runs so deep in the police force here and that it has a long history as mentioned in this book.
January 30, 2019
One of Timothy Egan's earlier books, Breaking Blue allows us to follow Anthony Bamonte, a sheriff of Lake Pend Oreille (pond-er-AY), as he investigates the police cover-up of a Depression-era murder of a Newport (WA) sheriff who was shot dead by a Spokane detective. The "blue wall" had protected the killer, Clyde Ralstin for over 50 years. Egan's narrative style and ability to peel away the investigation layer by layer had me turning the pages. Even though we know the eventual outcome, the story is un-put-downable. Egan never disappoints.
October 22, 2012
I think it speaks well of a book when it produces an emotional reaction in the reader. Reading this book made me angry.
On Sept. 14, 1935, a gang of thieves breaks into a creamery in Pend Oreille County, Wash., to steal butter and other dairy commodities that were valuable on the black market during the Depression. A town marshal named George Conniff intervenes and is murdered.
The case goes unsolved until 1989, when Pend Oreille County's against-the-grain sheriff, Tony Bamonte, comes across it while working on his master's thesis. Feeling that an injustice has been done. Bamonte reopens the case, and his investigation leads him to uncover outrageous corruption in the Spokane (Wash.) Police Department of the 1930s. Even the Spokane Police Department of 1989 isn't thrilled about Bamonte's queries. The reason: The prime suspect was, in 1935, a Spokane police officer.
Ridiculed for probing a crime fifty-plus years later, Bamonte has three good reasons for his persistence: Conniff's three children, still alive, still seeking closure.
Timothy Egan's "Breaking Blue" is as much a profile of the tortured, stubborn Sheriff Bamonte as it is a true-crime story. Although Bamonte is the hero of the book, he's a flawed hero, and Egan is unsparing when it comes to those flaws. As admirable as his pursuit of truth and justice is, it comes at the expense of his family.
I'm not much into the true-crime genre, but I chose to read "Breaking Blue" because I really liked two later books by Egan. "Breaking Blue" shares in common with them meticulous research and reporting. It allows Egan to make us feel as if we are there in that creamery in 1935, and as if we are there with Bamonte as he labors alone on his thesis and as he tries to make headway with defenders of his prime suspect.
Egan is careful to give us ample background so that we understand, for example, the reasons for robbing a creamery in the 1930s, and the workings of the Spokane police during that era. Because of this, the book seems to move a bit slowly in the early going.
As I read the final chapters last night, though, it was almost in the can't-put-it-down category.
On Sept. 14, 1935, a gang of thieves breaks into a creamery in Pend Oreille County, Wash., to steal butter and other dairy commodities that were valuable on the black market during the Depression. A town marshal named George Conniff intervenes and is murdered.
The case goes unsolved until 1989, when Pend Oreille County's against-the-grain sheriff, Tony Bamonte, comes across it while working on his master's thesis. Feeling that an injustice has been done. Bamonte reopens the case, and his investigation leads him to uncover outrageous corruption in the Spokane (Wash.) Police Department of the 1930s. Even the Spokane Police Department of 1989 isn't thrilled about Bamonte's queries. The reason: The prime suspect was, in 1935, a Spokane police officer.
Ridiculed for probing a crime fifty-plus years later, Bamonte has three good reasons for his persistence: Conniff's three children, still alive, still seeking closure.
Timothy Egan's "Breaking Blue" is as much a profile of the tortured, stubborn Sheriff Bamonte as it is a true-crime story. Although Bamonte is the hero of the book, he's a flawed hero, and Egan is unsparing when it comes to those flaws. As admirable as his pursuit of truth and justice is, it comes at the expense of his family.
I'm not much into the true-crime genre, but I chose to read "Breaking Blue" because I really liked two later books by Egan. "Breaking Blue" shares in common with them meticulous research and reporting. It allows Egan to make us feel as if we are there in that creamery in 1935, and as if we are there with Bamonte as he labors alone on his thesis and as he tries to make headway with defenders of his prime suspect.
Egan is careful to give us ample background so that we understand, for example, the reasons for robbing a creamery in the 1930s, and the workings of the Spokane police during that era. Because of this, the book seems to move a bit slowly in the early going.
As I read the final chapters last night, though, it was almost in the can't-put-it-down category.
July 10, 2018
I'm a westerner through-and-through. If I haven't punched cows through the region Timothy Egan has written about , I've backpacked, hunted, or fished it. It's God's country. I now live in a region called The Palouse which is discussed. It lies seventy miles south of the turret of Breaking Blue, Spokane.
Of his books, the three that I've read, the style of Breaking Blue may be my favorite, although born a child of the Dust Bowl, I preferred the subject of The Worst Hard Time .
As you read Breaking Blue you come to understand the parasitic nature of the turbulence, upheaval and corruption integral to law enforcement in eastern Washington, North Idaho and parts of Montana. These were not so much intentional acts of those involved as it was the inherent nature of the kind of individuals seeking refuge in this the last bastion of the Wild West during the 1930s. These raw knuckled hard-nosed characters were further provoked by the governments suggestion that fortune could be found in these areas bringing ill conditioned opportunists to an under developed area dispirited by the Great Depression.
Of his books, the three that I've read, the style of Breaking Blue may be my favorite, although born a child of the Dust Bowl, I preferred the subject of The Worst Hard Time .
As you read Breaking Blue you come to understand the parasitic nature of the turbulence, upheaval and corruption integral to law enforcement in eastern Washington, North Idaho and parts of Montana. These were not so much intentional acts of those involved as it was the inherent nature of the kind of individuals seeking refuge in this the last bastion of the Wild West during the 1930s. These raw knuckled hard-nosed characters were further provoked by the governments suggestion that fortune could be found in these areas bringing ill conditioned opportunists to an under developed area dispirited by the Great Depression.
March 3, 2019
A riveting nonfiction expose on a lifetime of dirty cops escaping prosecution. What begins with Sheriff Bamonte researching the history of Pend Oreille County law enforcement gradually ratchets up the tension and genuine mystery as he works to unravel a trail of nearly forgotten breadcrumbs leading to cop on cop murder. Sheriff Bamonte had everything working against him for years, from the water company to stonewalling family members of the suspect to neighboring police departments and even his own police department. He did this with nearly every witness, alibi or accomplice either close to or on their deathbed. And he brought back a highly conclusive result that Officer Clyde Ralstin killed Officer George Conniff... Over butter! (It was the 1930's, resources were scarce, times were tough). Fans of the NPR series Serial or HBO series Making a Murderer will enjoy this, for sure.
January 13, 2020
Wonderfully written story of a true-life Don Quixote type who couldn't let go of his unanswered questions until he got to the bottom of the very last one. This book took me to a place in the past and gave me a taste of what it was like to live in an utterly different world. Just read this one; you won't be sorry.
March 12, 2017
One of the best nonfiction books I've read.
It reads more like a fictional story than nonfiction. It's not dry and boring. It might have some embellishment but it's amazing.
It reads more like a fictional story than nonfiction. It's not dry and boring. It might have some embellishment but it's amazing.
November 19, 2012
Remember, the police are your friends - NOT! At least not in 1930's Spokane or even until the 1990's according to this book. This book is the true story of a murder committed in 1935 in the small NE Washington town of Newport by an off-duty Spokane police detective and accomplices during a burglary of the local creamery. The town night marshall happens upon the burglary, of butter no less, and is shot dead. The Spokane police, most of whom are corrupt and on the take, closes ranks around one of their own and the murder investigation stalls for lack of evidence (and effort).
Fast forward nearly fifty years to when Anthony Bamonte, the 46-year old sheriff of Pend Oreille County, begins a graduate program at Gonzaga University and chooses to focus on the history of major crimes in his jurisdiction as his thesis project. He becomes obsessed with finding out who committed what was at the time the longest unsolved murder case in the country.
Bamonte is an interesting character himself and his life has not been easy. It is amazing that he was able to stick with the investigation in spite of the many distractions that would have stopped most people in their tracks.
Eventually, through sheer persistence and a bit of luck he is able to break through the "blue wall" and years of coverup to finally finger the "perp" and make him squirm a bit before his passing. There is a a great deal of interesting history in this book about Depression-era Spokane and the surrounding Northwest.
Fast forward nearly fifty years to when Anthony Bamonte, the 46-year old sheriff of Pend Oreille County, begins a graduate program at Gonzaga University and chooses to focus on the history of major crimes in his jurisdiction as his thesis project. He becomes obsessed with finding out who committed what was at the time the longest unsolved murder case in the country.
Bamonte is an interesting character himself and his life has not been easy. It is amazing that he was able to stick with the investigation in spite of the many distractions that would have stopped most people in their tracks.
Eventually, through sheer persistence and a bit of luck he is able to break through the "blue wall" and years of coverup to finally finger the "perp" and make him squirm a bit before his passing. There is a a great deal of interesting history in this book about Depression-era Spokane and the surrounding Northwest.
July 14, 2018
I read this book because the same author wrote "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" which I quite enjoyed. Egan has a knack for telling history in a way that makes you feel like you are there as the subjects are speaking, acting, or being described. This book looks at one specific person and his quest for justice. To avoid a spoiler, I will only say it is engrossing, challenging, troubling, redemptive, and surprising all at once. The book reminds the reader that the past is never 'done' and 'gone.' The past always effects the present and impacts our lives. This book shows that in a small way, but one that is quite profound. The book helps the reader look at both fact and the story that arises out of a desire to change what people perceive.
February 12, 2010
As a resident of Spokane, WA this was a book I HAD to read. It certainly explained a lot of the annimosity and contempt that the local police had for anyone who questioned their authority.
This book is a fantastic read. I lent my first and second copies and they came back after years of being passed from friend to friend. I finally found a copy on E-bay and it is my keeper.
You will love this if you like to learn about life in the town of Spokane during the great 30's and how it played out in the 90's.
This book is a fantastic read. I lent my first and second copies and they came back after years of being passed from friend to friend. I finally found a copy on E-bay and it is my keeper.
You will love this if you like to learn about life in the town of Spokane during the great 30's and how it played out in the 90's.
August 14, 2017
An early Egan, but still excellent. I love the way he weaves together time, place, and people to tell a great story. Egan's writing is excellent; he draws into the web of his story, hard to put down, but it's a frustrating read because of the arrogance of power that it reveals. The powerful in this story ignore ethics and morality to keep their power. The reality Egan reveals reminds me why I'm a Libertarian.
August 18, 2018
This book is about crooked cops in Spokane, Washington during the depression and the cop who uncovered a murder by a cop during that time while doing a college thesis in the 1980's. Most of the players have passed on but there is one still living....
There were some interesting moments during this book but there were also some times that were slow going. Worth a read to see how (hopefully) times have changed.
There were some interesting moments during this book but there were also some times that were slow going. Worth a read to see how (hopefully) times have changed.
July 27, 2019
This is a true story of a crime committed during the depression in Spokane WA, and a sheriff who was determined to solve the crime 50 yrs later. This was a time when people killed each other over "butter". Also known as the butter wars. Timothy Eagan is a master at telling a good story and reads like a thriller. I have really enjoyed all of Eagan's books.
June 14, 2022
I think I have a new favorite author now. This is a piece of local history that I didn’t know actually happened here in Washington State. This was one of Washington State’s several still active cold cases.
December 9, 2009
Enjoyed this book immensely. Totally different from The Worst Hard Times, but yet set in a similar time period. The setting was great the research was very good and it gave a very compelling story.
December 27, 2019
I'm giving this book 3 stars, but it's really closer to 3.5. This is an early book of Egan's, and as some other reviewers have already mentioned, it doesn't have the polish that his later books have, as his writing skills evolved. The story definitely held my interest, but I felt like it meandered a little too much.
Egan does a great job of revealing the culture of law enforcement. The reader will notice the improvements in the 1980's compared to the 1930's (when many cops were criminals themselves), but the 1980's pales in comparison with the professionalism and decency expected of law enforcement today. Knowing and understanding this culture helps explain some of the issues we still see in the news today, but also shows that improvements are slowly being made.
One thing I noticed was that there was no index and no list of sources. Sources were mentioned throughout the book, in terms of who Bamonte spoke to and the archives he accessed, but I was surprised that Egan didn't include a list of exactly where he got all of his research from.
The lack of an index meant that when I wanted to find something from earlier in the book- for example, to cross reference what a suspect said in an interview with what he had done back in 1935- I had to flip back through pages in the book and wasn't always successful. I'm not sure if the lack of citations and an index is indicative of the year this book was written (1992) or something else.
Overall, though, if you like true crime mixed with history, have any interest in the Spokane area of Washington, or enjoy Egan's books, you should give this one a try. I'm glad I read it.
Egan does a great job of revealing the culture of law enforcement. The reader will notice the improvements in the 1980's compared to the 1930's (when many cops were criminals themselves), but the 1980's pales in comparison with the professionalism and decency expected of law enforcement today. Knowing and understanding this culture helps explain some of the issues we still see in the news today, but also shows that improvements are slowly being made.
One thing I noticed was that there was no index and no list of sources. Sources were mentioned throughout the book, in terms of who Bamonte spoke to and the archives he accessed, but I was surprised that Egan didn't include a list of exactly where he got all of his research from.
The lack of an index meant that when I wanted to find something from earlier in the book- for example, to cross reference what a suspect said in an interview with what he had done back in 1935- I had to flip back through pages in the book and wasn't always successful. I'm not sure if the lack of citations and an index is indicative of the year this book was written (1992) or something else.
Overall, though, if you like true crime mixed with history, have any interest in the Spokane area of Washington, or enjoy Egan's books, you should give this one a try. I'm glad I read it.
February 23, 2018
Interesting story about the longest unsolved murder in the country.
December 22, 2013
I liked the history, I disliked the personal story of Tony Bamonte.
Spokane was a cesspit of killing, robbery, and corruption from the time white men first arrived in the neighborhood, about 1811. Now I don't know exactly what was going on when only the Indians lived there, but they did manage to live there for thousands of years without destroying the land. When white men arrived, well never mind reasonable behavior. Logging, killing Indians including those trying to surrender, killing 800 horses belonging to the Indians, mining, bootlegging, whoring, wife beating, and a totally corrupt police force. In 1935 someone is robbing creameries for butter and cream to sell on the black market. Remember this is depression and dust bowl era, lots of very hungry people and people out of work. A marshal working security in the town where one of the creameries is located is shot dead by the thieves. But who were the thieves, who was the murderer? Police don't tell on police so the murderer is not caught.
In rides Sheriff Tony Bamonte, in 1989, figuratively wearing a white hat. Mr. good guy. He fights for right He fights the logging corporations, the justice department, the forest service. Kind of this lone cowboy sheriff. He decides to solve this crime. No one likes him for it except the family of the marshal who died 54 years ago in the robbery.
Tony Bamonte is also kind of a messed up person in his own esteem, which he keeps telling us about, his father was cold, his mother was a slut. He doesn't forgive his mother or stop trying to find some trace of love in the years his father had lived. Sadly, despite his heroic work in solving this crime, he seems incapable of not repeating his parents mistakes with his own family.
Spokane was a cesspit of killing, robbery, and corruption from the time white men first arrived in the neighborhood, about 1811. Now I don't know exactly what was going on when only the Indians lived there, but they did manage to live there for thousands of years without destroying the land. When white men arrived, well never mind reasonable behavior. Logging, killing Indians including those trying to surrender, killing 800 horses belonging to the Indians, mining, bootlegging, whoring, wife beating, and a totally corrupt police force. In 1935 someone is robbing creameries for butter and cream to sell on the black market. Remember this is depression and dust bowl era, lots of very hungry people and people out of work. A marshal working security in the town where one of the creameries is located is shot dead by the thieves. But who were the thieves, who was the murderer? Police don't tell on police so the murderer is not caught.
In rides Sheriff Tony Bamonte, in 1989, figuratively wearing a white hat. Mr. good guy. He fights for right He fights the logging corporations, the justice department, the forest service. Kind of this lone cowboy sheriff. He decides to solve this crime. No one likes him for it except the family of the marshal who died 54 years ago in the robbery.
Tony Bamonte is also kind of a messed up person in his own esteem, which he keeps telling us about, his father was cold, his mother was a slut. He doesn't forgive his mother or stop trying to find some trace of love in the years his father had lived. Sadly, despite his heroic work in solving this crime, he seems incapable of not repeating his parents mistakes with his own family.
May 15, 2017
Washington State and 1935, and what a time it was. Bill Parsons was a rookie cop making $27 a week who tried to be honest, much like Frank Serpico here in New York. Spokane was a den of bootleggers, whores and gamblers who remained in business due to the top to bottom corruption of the police force and judicial system. The thin blue line kept Parsons silent after the murder of a cop killed during a robbery by a fellow officer. The victim was guarding a large creamery where butter was stolen and later sold on a lucrative black market. The killer cop was untouchable, as he had connections and dirt on everyone within the department. Fifty four years later and Anthony Bamonte enters the picture as the sheriff and a graduate student working on a Masters with a paper on crime in Spokane in the 1930s. This book is the reason I don’t read crime fiction, as real life is far more entertaining than any writer’s imagination. Bamonte’s obsession with the unsolved murder makes for a riveting story. He spends endless hours investigating the case and tracks down a couple of people with good memories and guilty consciences; two Catholics fearing eternal damnation, my words, not Egan’s, but we all share a common RC upbringing. The search continues with a ferocious tenacity as Bamonte digs up clues long hidden by a wall of blue silence. Is the killer cop, Clyde Ralstin , still alive? And if so, where is he? I will not give it away here, just read this great book to learn the answer. “Sometimes the bad guys wore a uniform.�
October 12, 2019
Generally, I love Timothy Egan. He's a great writer and he picks some fascinating topics. I was super-eager to read this boo, not only because of the author, but because i have in-law connections in Spokane.
I would give the first 75 pages of this book two stars and four to the last two-thirds of the book. The first several pages were boring and very slow going because the reader does not have a clue what the significance of these events will be. So I averaged it out to three, which is generous for the first 75 pages, and really doesn't do justice to the rest of the book, which was better than three stars.
The pace picks up considerably after about page 75, when we get to know Tony Bamonte, who is doing the research. What a fascinating character!
I think Mr. Egan should have flipped-flopped the order, or interspersed the research findings with the events. I don't think putting the historical events first, without much context, was the best way to go about this subject matter. I almost felt manipulated into the reading the first 75 pages again after I came to the end for that context, but life is too short when you're my age to read a book a second time for that reason.
I'm also kind of pissed that he mentions that this whole story was part of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, then he doesn't tell us what episode, what season, what day it aired, nothing. I have spent A LOT of time looking for it on IMDB and can't find it.
Help, out there, if anyone has found it!
I would give the first 75 pages of this book two stars and four to the last two-thirds of the book. The first several pages were boring and very slow going because the reader does not have a clue what the significance of these events will be. So I averaged it out to three, which is generous for the first 75 pages, and really doesn't do justice to the rest of the book, which was better than three stars.
The pace picks up considerably after about page 75, when we get to know Tony Bamonte, who is doing the research. What a fascinating character!
I think Mr. Egan should have flipped-flopped the order, or interspersed the research findings with the events. I don't think putting the historical events first, without much context, was the best way to go about this subject matter. I almost felt manipulated into the reading the first 75 pages again after I came to the end for that context, but life is too short when you're my age to read a book a second time for that reason.
I'm also kind of pissed that he mentions that this whole story was part of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, then he doesn't tell us what episode, what season, what day it aired, nothing. I have spent A LOT of time looking for it on IMDB and can't find it.
Help, out there, if anyone has found it!
September 18, 2020
This is one of Timothy Egan's earlier books but it doesn't really feel dated. In it he tells the story of Tony Bamonte, the sheriff of Pend Orielle County in far northeastern Washington, just north of Spokane. For his master's thesis he decided to examine all the unsolved murders in his county from years back but ends up focusing on the murder of a previous sheriff during a butter heist in the mid-1930s. It turned out the killers had been Spokane policemen, a notoriously corrupt department back in the 1930s and one that had kept this fact quiet for 50 years. The first third of the book discusses the murder and Spokane in the 1930s. I found Tony Bamonte's pursuit of finding answers to these questions in the late 1980s very compelling in the remaining part of the book. I have visited the adjoining areas of Idaho a few times and found this a very interesting book that brings out this crime, the place and time periods very well. Another one of Timothy Egan's great non-fiction books.
May 12, 2021
Spokane cops have a long history of this. Another example is the section in Jane Little Botkin's "Frank Little and the IWW" where, during the Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909-1910, Police Chief John T Sullivan was accused of wrongful injuries and deaths after three prisoners died in custody. I've lived in this region all my life; Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and Western Montana. The only other police department that might rival Spokane's is Butte's and that's because they were owned by the Anaconda Company.
Pinkerton spy turned novelist Dashiell Hammett, working out of the Spokane office and sent to Butte in 1917 as a strike breaker, was approached by an officer of the Anaconda Company and offered $5,000 to murder Frank Little. Dirty cops are nothing new. The assassinations of the 60's couldn't have been pulled off without the help of the local police departments. Dallas? Los Angeles? Duh.
Pinkerton spy turned novelist Dashiell Hammett, working out of the Spokane office and sent to Butte in 1917 as a strike breaker, was approached by an officer of the Anaconda Company and offered $5,000 to murder Frank Little. Dirty cops are nothing new. The assassinations of the 60's couldn't have been pulled off without the help of the local police departments. Dallas? Los Angeles? Duh.
June 22, 2019
Wow! What an incredible story about one man's pursuit of a 50 year old cold case, and his courage to lay bare the facts. Timothy Egan presents a terrific narrative about a pacific Northwest sheriff, who is developing a masters thesis intended to offer a history of the sheriff department in the county he serves in, in Pend Orielle county, north of Spokane. While doing his research, sheriff Tony Bamonte uncovers a string of evidence that suggests a Spokane detective was guilty of shooting another sheriff during the robbery of a creamery. The book takes us through the building of the evidence, and locating of several people close to the case and people involved, who were by then well into their 80s and 90s. I won't give a spoiler here on the end of the story, but this is one book I could not put down and a story well worth reading!
January 10, 2019
It was the time of the Great Depression and soon after Prohibition's end, when law-keeping was on shaky ground, when the line between cop and robber blurred and, for some, disappeared completely--a time when a good man might be killed over scarce and valuable . . . butter?
Employing some novelistic techniques, Egan recounts the 1935 Spokane creamery robberies and the murder of Town Marshall George Conff, then follows the story to its fascinating resolution in 1989 when a number of the suspects and witnesses are still alive and still sitting tight on their secrets.
Breaking Blue is Egan's first book, and maybe 5% of the book is marred by heavy-handed dramatizing. This, however, doesn't prevent me from giving the book a strong recommendation.
Employing some novelistic techniques, Egan recounts the 1935 Spokane creamery robberies and the murder of Town Marshall George Conff, then follows the story to its fascinating resolution in 1989 when a number of the suspects and witnesses are still alive and still sitting tight on their secrets.
Breaking Blue is Egan's first book, and maybe 5% of the book is marred by heavy-handed dramatizing. This, however, doesn't prevent me from giving the book a strong recommendation.
July 13, 2016
Great read about local history though one that portrays a coverup of corruption in the Spokane Police Department during the time of the depression. Such a story is probably not unique when exploring corruption in the US during this time in our history, where abuse of power and authority were not unusual. When poverty was a significant issue among the population when food shortages, limited housing, few jobs and homelessness, created desperation for so many.
January 8, 2022
Egan does a great job setting the scene of corrupt and desperate 1930's Spokane and the plodding, paperwork bogged determination of an officer trying to get justice on a cold case. I would have chopped about fifty pages off of the end, but otherwise an informative read on local history.
December 12, 2023
During the years when our relatives lived in Spokane, we visited them there several times. One summer, we went across the border to Lake Pend Oreille, in Idaho’s panhandle, Idaho’s largest lake. Picturesque scenery fills my memories of Spokane and Pend Oreille, but now, having read Timothy Egan’s Breaking Blue, I have quite another impression of the area.
The title, Breaking Blue, sounds like the TV show Breaking Bad, which didn’t premiere until four years after the second edition of this book, 16 years after the original copyright, and which resembles this book only in its flavor of corruption and violence. The “blue� in the title refers to police.
This is a true story. Reading it, I sometimes felt as if I were watching an extended series on the television program Dateline, which follows in-depth investigations of corruption and criminal activity in many of its episodes.
The framework is set in 1989 although the heart of the story takes place in 1935 with a couple of significant echoes in 1955 and 1957. (It’s worth noting that the original copyright of Breaking Blue is but a few years after the main story.)
It’s the story, on the one hand, where a Spokane policeman murders a former sheriff during a robbery. It’s a story about the villain, Clyde Ralstin, and some of his sidekicks, such as Dan Mangan. At the same time, it’s the story of Pond Oreille County Sheriff Anthony G. Bamonte, whose master’s thesis project of tracing the history of his predecessors becomes a 500-page document, in which an unsolved murder mystery rises to the surface. Bamonte’s obsession for justice—not retribution, but accountability for the sake of the victims—runs against the strong current of police protecting their own. It also requires major sacrifices balanced only by fragile rewards.
To say more would require spoilers. Are you interested in law enforcement? Corruption? Murder mysteries? Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho? Then this book will capture your time until you finish reading it.
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