James Renner

James Renner (born 1978) is an American journalist and author. He came to prominence as a reporter and author specializing in crime, and has also written two novels that fuse mystery and suspense with speculative fiction.

Renner is from Akron, Ohio and is a 2000 graduate of Kent State University. He worked as a reporter for Cleveland Scene and was the editor of the alternative newspaper The Cleveland Independent. He was also a founding member of Last Call Cleveland, a sketch comedy troupe.

In October 2006, Gray & Co. released a book by Renner about his two-year-long investigation into the 1989 unsolved abduction and murder of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic. The title of the book is Amy: My Search for Her Killer.

In 2005, Renner visited reclusive author J.D. Salinger at the author's home in New Hampshire. Renner released a documentary about The Catcher in the Rye and his road trip to visit Salinger, in 2009. It is available online, in serialized form.

In January 2011, Renner announced his plans to delve into the disappearance of Maura Murray, a nursing student who went missing after a car accident in Haverhill, New Hampshire. He maintains a blog about his investigation into her disappearance called My Search for Maura Murray. His book on the case, True Crime Addict, was published in May 2016.

In 2004, Renner directed an adaptation of Stephen King's short story "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away". King granted Renner the rights to adapt this story as part of his Dollar Baby program for aspiring filmmakers. It was an official selection at the 2005 Montreal World Film Festival.

Renner's first novel, The Man From Primrose Lane, was published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, in March 2012.

In 2013, Warner Bros. acquired the rights to The Man From Primrose Lane to adapt as a film starring Bradley Cooper.

His second novel, The Great Forgetting, was released November 10, 2015.

In the December 2005 issue of Cleveland Magazine, Renner was named one of the city's 30 most interesting people.