True Crime Addict
How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray
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4.9 • 8 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
As seen on the Oxygen mini-series The Disappearance of Maura Murray
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 UMass 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.
James Renner's True Crime Addict is the story of his spellbinding investigation of the missing person's case of Maura Murray, which has taken on a life of its own for armchair sleuths across the web. In the spirit of David Fincher's Zodiac, it is a fascinating look at a case that has eluded authorities and one man's obsessive quest for the answers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this in-depth crime exploration, journalist Renner (The Serial Killer's Apprentice) pursues the truth behind the disappearance of Maura Murray, a University of Massachusetts student who vanished in 2004 after a car accident in the mountains of New Hampshire, while tying his interest in the case to his own troubled life. The conflicting evidence surrounding Murray's disappearance and the events leading up to her last sighting have baffled investigators and authorities for over a decade, with theories ranging from abduction to suicide to a voluntary disappearance on her part. Renner describes his own private investigation, which borders on obsessive, as he tracks down Murray's friends and family, often contacting them despite their wishes to be left alone, running down cold trails and wild leads. He recounts the years of research, utilizing the collective efforts of amateur sleuths on the Internet, and his own inexhaustible skills, all of which leads him to some sort of conclusion. While this is clearly the definitive write-up on Murray's story to date, Renner's personal involvement in the case and his self-destructive, relentless dedication to confronting the darkness at the heart of it is the more noteworthy component of the narrative.
Customer Reviews
Great book
Must read
Intriguing and very readable
I enjoyed the way JR explores the mystery through the prism of his own true crime obsessions. The overall effect is to weave the stories together which gives the book more of a 3D feel. The mystery itself is fascinating enough, with multiplying leads and crevices to fall into to try to uncover the truth. The prospect that MM is leading an alternative life in Canada is kind of enticing and believable, but there is not sufficient evidence/ confirmation that this is what happened. You almost feel follow up research is coming, where the author tries to confirm the sightings in Canada. This is what the author intended and to allow other possibilities & theories too. Anyway there is no absolute requirement for a crime writer to solve such a crime. That is for the authorities. Rather the investigative authors’ job is to go where others have not, building on leads to present the whole process of discovery in an engaging and thought provoking way. JR succeeds in that.
Maura Murray
Excellent resource into the disaperance of Maura Murray. A must read for any true crime fan.