A mind-bending, genre-twisting debut novel
In West Akron, Ohio, there lived a reclusive elderly man who always wore mittens, even in July. He had no friends and no family; all over town, he was known as the Man from Primrose Lane. And on a summer day, someone murdered him.
Fast-forward four years. David Neff, the bestselling author of a true-crime book about an Ohio serial killer, is a broken man after his wife's inexplicable suicide. When an unexpected visit from an old friend introduces him to the strange mystery of "the man with a thousand mittens," David decides to investigate. What he finds draws him back into a world he thought he had left behind forever. And the closer David gets to uncovering the true identity of the Man from Primrose Lane, the more he begins to understand the dangerous power of his own obsessions and how they may be connected to the deaths of both the old hermit and his beloved wife.
Deviously plotted and full of dark wit, James Renner's The Man from Primrose Lane is an audacious debut that boasts as many twists as a roller coaster. But beneath its turns, it's a spellbinding story about our obsessions: the dangerous sway they have over us and the fates of those we love.

The Man from Primrose Lane: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Renner, James

Literary

Sarah Crichton Books

A new genre-bending novel from the author of The Man from Primrose Lane In The Man from Primrose Lane, James Renner fused time travel with serial-killer thrillers, resulting in what the Associated Press called "a superbly crazy and imaginative story." Now, in The Great Forgetting, he blends science fiction and conspiracy thrillers with a touch of pure fantasy, and the result is just as crazy and imaginative. Jack Felter, a history teacher, returns home to bucolic Franklin Mills, Ohio, to care for his father, a retired pilot who suffers from dementia and is quickly losing his memory. Jack would love to forget about Franklin Mills, and about Sam, the girl he fell in love with, who ran off with his best friend, Tony. Except Tony has gone missing. Soon Jack is pulled into the search for Tony, but the only one who seems to know anything is Tony's last patient, a paranoid boy named Cole. Jack must team up with Cole to follow Tony's trail-and maybe save the world. Their journey will lead them to Manhattan and secret facilities buried under the Catskills, and eventually to a forgotten island in the Pacific-the final destination of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. When Jack learns the details about the program known as the Great Forgetting, he's faced with the timeless question: Is it better to forget our greatest mistake or to remember, so it's never repeated?

The Great Forgetting: A Novel

United States

The history of Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill is interesting not only because the communities played a major role in the American Revolution but because of their cultural and educational institutions and residents whose culture and ethnicity have contributed to the well-being of the area. These communities have always been a haven for immigrants who have come here to live and work since the pre-Columbian era. Native Americans came to trade goods, Jewish refugees came during the 1930s to flee the tyranny of the Nazis, and since the end of World War II there has been an influx of the Latino community. The area is also noted for its dolomitic Inwood marble, which has been quarried for government buildings in New York City and some of the federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Through vintage images, Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill illustrates the transformation of this area over the decades.

Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill (NY) (Images of America)

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Arcadia Publishing

In September of 1990, in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruett, a poetry lover and member of a church youth group, was on her way to a midnight tryst with her boyfriend, when she was viciously stabbed to death only thirty feet from the boy's home. The murder cast a palpable gloom over the upscale community and sparked accusations, theories, and rumors among Lisa's friends and peers. Together they wove a damning narrative that circled back to a likely suspect: 'weird' high school outcast Kevin Young. Without a shred of evidence the teen was arrested, charged, and tried for the crime. His eventual acquittal didn t squelch the anger and outrage among those who believed that Kevin got away with murder. With a fresh perspective and painstaking research culled from police files, court records, transcripts, uncollected evidence, and new interviews, James Renner reconstructs the events leading up to and following that heartbreaking night. What emerges is a portr

Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence

Biographies & Memoirs

Regional U.S.

Citadel

Scout Camp: Sex, Death, and Secret Societies Inside the Boy Scouts of America

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

In West Akron, Ohio, there lived an elderly recluse who always wore mittens, even in July. He had no friends and no family, and was known only as the Man from Primrose Lane. And on a summer day, someone murdered him. Fast-forward four years. David Neff, the bestselling author of a true-crime book about an Ohio serial killer, is broken by his wife's inexplicable suicide. When an unexpected visit from an old friend introduces him to the strange mystery of "the man with a thousand mittens," David decides to investigate. But the closer he gets to uncovering the man's true identity, the more he begins to understand the reality-altering power of his own obsessions―and how they may be connected to the deaths of the old hermit and David's beloved wife. Deviously plotted and full of dark wit, James Renner's The Man from Primrose Lane is an audacious page-turner unlike anything you've ever read.

Picador

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.

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray

Professionals & Academics

Thomas Dunne Books

FORGET HISTORY (ESPECIALLY 2016). READ THE LATEST GENRE-BENDING NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE MAN FROM PRIMROSE LANE. 
When history teacher Jack Felter gets a call that his father, a retired pilot suffering from dementia, is quickly losing his last, precious memories, he reluctantly returns to bucolic Franklin Mills, Ohio. It’s been years since he’s been home. Jack has been trying to forget about Franklin Mills ever since Sam, the girl he fell in love with, ran off with his best friend, Tony. But Tony is gone, now. Vanished. Everyone assumes the worst.
Soon Jack is pulled into the search for Tony, but the only one who seems to know anything is Tony’s last patient, a paranoid boy named Cole. As Cole pulls Jack into his web of conspiracy theories, the two of them team up to follow Tony’s trail―and maybe even save the world.

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 led 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 a complicated case that has eluded authorities for more than a decade and a journalist’s own complicated true-crime addiction.

The history of Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill is interesting not only because the communities played a major role in the American Revolution but because of their cultural and educational institutions and residents whose culture and ethnicity have contributed to the well-being of the area. These communities have always been a haven for immigrants who have come here to live and work since the pre-Columbian era. Native Americans came to trade goods, Jewish refugees came during the 1930s to flee the tyranny of the Nazis, and since the end of World War II there has been an influx of the Latino community. The area is also noted for its dolomitic Inwood marble, which has been quarried for government buildings in New York City and some of the federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Through vintage images, Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill illustrates the transformation of this area over the decades.

Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill

History

Americas

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Renner, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Renner, James

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Renner, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Man from Primrose Lane: A Novel

The Great Forgetting: A Novel

Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill (NY) (Images of America)

Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence

Scout Camp: Sex, Death, and Secret Societies Inside the Boy Scouts of America

The Man from Primrose Lane: A Novel

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray

The Great Forgetting: A Novel

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray

Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill