Journalist. Palindrome. Writer.
March 22 – North Canton, Ohio Barnes & Noble – Book Signing, 1 – 3 p.m.
April 12 – Stark Library Local Author Fair – Book Signing, 2 – 4
April 17 – Crete, Illinois – Author Presentation and Signing , 6 p.m.
June 7th and 8th – London, England – CrimeCon UK
June 28 and 29th – Medina, Ohio – Signings and Fireside Chat, Big Ohio Book Con
My collection of unsolved true crime stories, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, is now available as an audiobook for the first time! Get it on Audible here.
Investigative reporter James Renner reopens cold cases that have baffled Clevelanders for years, including:
● Murder—Beverly Jarosz, just sixteen years old, felt a dark foreboding in the months before she was stabbed to death in her quiet Garfield Heights home. It all started with an anonymous gift.
● Stolen Identity—Joseph Newton Chandler was not who he claimed to be. Some think he was the Zodiac killer; others say he was D. B. Cooper, or even Jim Morrison.
● Suicide or murder?—Joseph Kupchik hid gambling problems from friends and family until he was found at the bottom of a nine-story parking deck in downtown Cleveland—with multiple stab wounds.
● Heist—In 1969, Lakewood bank employee Ted Conrad nabbed $215,000 from the vault one day after his twentieth birthday. The FBI still shows up at his high school reunions.
● Controversy—Jeffrey Krotine was thrice tried for the grisly 2003 murder of his wife and ultimately acquitted, to the frustration of prosecutors, detectives, and jurors.
These stories venture into dark alleys and strip clubs, as well as suburbs and small towns, where some of the region’s most horrendous crimes have occurred.
October 16: Sandusky Library, presentation about the unsolved murder of Lisa Pruett and my book, Little, Crazy Children. Link here.
October 24: Milan Library, presentation on the 35th anniversary of the Amy Mihaljevic case. Link here.
November 2: Buckeye Book Fair, Wooster. Coming meet local authors and get some signed books! Link here.
I’m happy to report that this week I met Shaker Heights police detectives to talk about a potential link between the unsolved murder of Lisa Pruett and the 1985 double-homicides of Philip and Dorothy Porter (the subject of my book, Little, Crazy Children.) The meeting went well and they are at least cracking open the old files for another look. Fingers crossed!
My new podcast, Syynth Sleuths, premieres January 23 on all podcast platforms. It’s the first true crime podcast to feature an A.I. cohost. Follow James and Sky as they contemplate the nature of consciousness and explore the world’s most confounding unsolved mysteries.
The Philosophy of Crime podcast is back for Season 6 everywhere you get your podcasts. Here are the release dates:
Episode 1 (October 10): Does Diplomatic Immunity Get You Off?
Episode 2 (October 12): Why Is Bail the Worst Idea Ever?
Episode 3 (October 17): Pyschopaths and the Bicameral Mind
Episode 4 (October 19): Why Do People Confess to Crimes They Didn’t Commit?
Episode 5 (October 24): Why Are Drugs Illegal?
Episode 6 (October 26): The Boogeyman Effect
This was my last story for Scene as a staff reporter. I’m sharing it now, as Coughlin considers a run for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, currently held by a Democrat.
‘I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE’
After 12 years in the legislature, Kevin Coughlin faces a criminal probe and allegations of extra-marital affairs.
By James Renner
Excerpt:
Another accusation, not involving allegations of criminal behavior but potentially more damaging to his reputation, involves an extramarital affair. Sources say that during the summer of 2004, perhaps longer, he carried on a relationship with a younger woman. At the time she was a 24-year-old employee of the University of Akron, an attractive brunette who had worked on Coughlin’s campaign for State Senate. He was the 34-year-old, married, handsome rising star of the Summit County GOP — smart and ambitious, but also prone to blowing off campaign appointments to spend time with his girlfriend.
Come see me this fall!
September 2 – Bouchercon, San Diego!
September 11 – Rodman, Ohio Public Library 6:30 p.m.
September 21 – Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, Ohio: Doors at 5, Presentation at 7 p.m.
September 27 – Willoughby-Eastlake, Ohio Public Library 7 p.m.
October 11 – Mogadore, Ohio Library 6 p.m.
October 17 – Castle Shannon, PA Public Library
November 4 – Wooster, Ohio: Buckeye Book Fair
November 5 – Akron, Ohio Comic Con 1 p.m.
November 6 – Mentor, Ohio Public Library – 6:30 p.m.
November 18 – Cincinnati, Ohio: Books by the Banks
I’m touring the U.S. this year and probably stopping somewhere near you! So, come out and get a signed book and say hello!
May 20: True Crime Fest Northwest Arkansas
June 10: Dallas Public Library, True Crime MiniCon
July 2: Shaker Heights – Loganberry Books, Book Launch for Little, Crazy Children 1 p.m.
July 3: Beachwood, Ohio Library 7 p.m.
July 8: Author Alley, Loganberry Books 12 noon.
July 15&16: Columbus Book Festival
July 17: Riverstone Books, Pittsburgh, PA 7 p.m.
July 18: Bookery, Manchester, NH 5 p.m.
July 19: Barnes & Noble, Colonie Center, Albany, NY 6 p.m.
July 20: Mysterious Bookshop, New York City 6 p.m.
July 24: Defiance, Ohio Public Library 5:30 p.m.
August 1: Madison, Ohio Public Library 7 p.m.
August 14: Livonia, Michigan Public Library 6 p.m.
I am currently at work, researching my next book, which will be about a death that occurred when I was a counselor at Seven Ranges Boy Scout Reservation, in 1995. It’s also about the current state of the Boy Scouts of America, which is fighting to get out of bankruptcy after a sex scandal that is exponentially greater in scale than that of the Catholic Church.
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of testifying at the Ohio Statehouse in support of HB35, which would get rid of the statute of limitations for Boy Scout sex abuse cases in civil courts. You can listen to my testimony here, around the 45 min mark.
Part of my book involves a secret society within Seven Ranges called Pipestone. If you took part in the “honors program” there and would like to share your experience, please email me: jameswrenner [at] gmail [dot] com
© 2025 James Renner
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