The Quirky Bookworm

Title: True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray
Author: James Renner
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: May 24th, 2016
Page Length: 300

I loved reading True Crime Addict and recommend for fans of true crime. The author, James Renner, has several personal reasons as to why he is obsessed with true crime. His grandfather is a known child pedophile in their family. This left scars on him. Renner’s son starts having serious behavioral problems in school. Does his son carry the similar traits as his great-grandfather or is just his own paranoia? He discusses this in detail. A young girl named Amy Mihaljevic that he falls in love with as a child goes missing in his home state of Ohio. Renner himself was nearly abducted in the local park. He decides as an adult to build a career as a journalist.

After being fired by a newspaper due to worries over a lawsuit for writing a story about senator Kevin Coughlin, Renner found himself drawn to writing true crime stories again which led to his obsession with Maura Murray.

Maura Murray, a UMass student, disappeared one day in 2004 out in rural New Hampshire. Her car was wrecked and nearby neighbors called to inform the police. By the time the police arrived to the scene, Murray had gone missing. Prior to leaving, she returned her nursing scrubs and informed her professors that there was a death in the family, even though the statement was not true. She packed her belongings in boxes and left an email on top of them that states her boyfriend was cheating on her. She had credit card fraud and identity theft associated with her name. Renner discusses the possibility that she started over with a new life and the wreck was on purpose and used for distraction. He also discusses the possibility she was driving in tandem with another driver and they rescued her. Her ex-fiance, Bill Rausch, was known to be controlling and jealous. According to a mutual friend, Murray was pregnant and looking for a way to escape so she wouldn’t have to share custody with Rausch. Murray has never been found. Renner goes into detail about her case and what possibly could have happened to Murray.

From the author’s website: James Renner is mostly known for his true-crime journalism. As a reporter for Cleveland Scene, he uncovered new clues and suspects in the cold-case murder of Amy Mihaljevic. 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 writing has been featured in the Best American Crime Reporting anthology. His selection was the first true crime article to use a dream sequence as a narrative device. Read more at
http://jamesrenner.com/

Follow Renner’s podcast, The Philosophy of Crime.