James Renner

James Renner is a journalist, former reporter for the Cleveland Scene and author of nonfiction thriller, True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray, the story of his spellbinding investigation of the case. He is the man behind countless theories regarding her disappearance and is the author of popular blog - “My Search for Maura Murray.”  His records related to the disappearance of Maura Murray can be viewed by the public at the Special Collections Archive in the library on the campus of Kent State University.

As a crime reporter for Cleveland Scene, James uncovered new clues and suspects in the cold-case murder of Amy Mihaljevic and his work led to the successful closure of the Tina Harmon case in 2009. He spent months researching the Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus abductions when the girls were still missing and is haunted by the fact that he had Castro’s name in his notes.    His true crime stories have been published in the Best American Crime Reporting and Best Creative Nonfiction anthologies. James has also published two novels, The Man from Primrose Lane and The Great Forgetting and has contributed to online culture sites such as Cracked, Boing Boing, and BookRiot. True Crime Addict is also being adapted for television by Richard Price and Johnny Depp.