An account of the author’s lifelong fascination with true crime and his obsessive quest to find Maura Murray, a University of Massachusetts student whose disappearance in 2004 has stumped authorities to this day.

When an eleven-year-old James Renner fell in love with Amy Mihaljevic, the missing girl seen on posters all over his neighborhood, it was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with true crime. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. It also gave him PTSD. In 2011, James began researching the strange disappearance of Maura Murray, a University of Massachusetts student who went missing after wrecking her car in rural New Hampshire in 2004.

Over the course of his investigation, he uncovers numerous important and shocking new clues about what may have happened to Maura, but also finds himself in increasingly dangerous situations with little regard for his own well-being. As his quest to find Maura deepens, the case starts taking a toll on his personal life, which begins to spiral out of control. The result is an absorbing dual investigation of the complicated story of the All-American girl who went missing and James’s own equally complicated true crime addiction.

In the spirit of Robert Graysmith’s Zodiac, True Crime Addict is a fascinating look at a case that has eluded authorities and one man’s obsessive quest for the answers.

James Renner is the author of The Serial Killer’s Apprentice and several other works of nonfiction. His true crime stories have appeared in The Best American Crime Writing anthology, as well the Cleveland Scene and Cracked.com. His method of using social media to solve cold cases was the subject of a CNN profile, in 2015. He has also written two novels, The Man from Primrose Lane and The Great Forgetting. He lives in Akron with his wife and children.

“Renner’s personal involvement in the case—and his self-destructive, relentless dedication to confronting the darkness at the heart of it[...is] noteworthy.” —Publishers Weekly

“Brutally honest, no-holds-barred storytelling... Renner brilliantly covers all the bases here, unravels part of the mystery, sheds light on his personal struggles while, in the process, making us care for the victim.” —M. William Phelps, New York Times bestselling author

“Renner’s walk on the dark side makes for a highly compelling read.” —Kathryn Casey, bestselling author of Deliver Us