This was a strong true crime nonfiction book, it had that overall respect and research that I was looking for and was engaged with the read. It worked well as a way to tell the story and thought Rick Jackson and Matthew McGough wrote this well.

This book was an informative and expansive look at crime investigation in los Angeles in the 1990s. I had never heard of this case (or the detective) so this was a fascinating read.

A nostalgic jump back in time to a true crime case unfolding with two detectives at the helm. This was informative and entertaining. The atmosphere was well established.

Los Angeles in the early nineties. True crime at its best. A very compelling look at crime and how it was dealt with in the nineties. The details are incredible. When a straight A student is found murdered near the Manson compound, is his death related?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this fascinating true crime book by Rick Jackson and Matthew McGough. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

In June 1990, Ronald Baker, a straight-A UCLA student, was found repeatedly stabbed to death in a tunnel near Spahn Ranch, where Charles Manson and his followers once lived. Shortly thereafter, Detective Rick Jackson and his partner, Frank Garcia, were assigned the case. Was there an occult factor? Their investigation soon focused on Baker's roommates, one Black and one white, and the investigators' dogged pursuit of truth and justice.

I thought this was a fascinating look back at LA in the 1990s, where race, police brutality, and satanism were the headline stories. But it's also such a close introspection of police work at its finest, where finding the truth takes priority over everything else. These detectives worked for years and even decades to get justice for families. It's a look back at the effects of the Rodney King and OJ Simpson verdicts, and you'll recognize many names from that era. Now that our movements and conversations are tracked by cellphones and cameras, this is true, gritty detective work when DNA was in its infancy. The crime itself was horrifying and such a tragic loss of a young man, but kudos to Jackson and Garcia for their devotion.

Black Tunnel White Magic is a in depth look into the investigation of the murder of Ron Baker. The author takes you step-by-step through each phase of the case, often giving you a "fly on the wall" perspective of the investigation and interviews that ensued. As a true crime follower I appreciated the detailed case information. Many interviews and conversations were provided verbatim which was a doubled-edged sword. So much detail was provided, but there was also quite a bit of repetition that made this a hefty read. I think this would have a wider appeal if some editing and trimming of the repeated elements had been done. The author does an excellent job outlining his thought process as the investigation moved forward which provided a unique perspective into the case. I also appreciated his insight about how politics & staff turnover impacted this case.