A Lying Heart: Murder and Injustice in Sonoma County

In 1980s Sonoma County, protection by law enforcement had a great deal to do with who you

were and who you knew. Sadly for Rosemary Edmonds, she was never part of the county’s

elite. She and her husband Rick had come to the area with the hope of developing an

impressive new shopping center, but high interest rates and bad timing crushed their dreams.

Facing the pressure of bankruptcy and astronomical debt, the Edmonds marriage fell apart.

Waiting to rescue Rosemary was an opportunistic, hard-living, much older man who promised a better life and entrée into a world of power and privilege.

Ron Smith has returned to the true crime genre with the compelling tale of Ernest “Kentucky”

Pendergrass – Pearl Harbor hero, self-made businessman, and respected member of Sonoma

County society. No one who knew him could have ever imagined that one day he would be

charged with murder, and also face accusations of working as a bag man for a notorious drug

dealer.

As with his past efforts, Smith has proven to be a master researcher who brings to life a glimpse of a fascinating time and place when cronyism ruled.