Amy: My Search for Her Killer: Secrets & Suspects in the Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic

I was the same age as Amy when she died, living not too far south in North Canton, which is a similar town to Bay Village. Even 20 years later, I still remember her face, her story and why you shouldn't talk to strangers. Ironically, like the author, I have to give thanks to Amy in a way because not too long after her abduction, my parents sat me down and gave me the very stern talk that I was NEVER to take a ride from anyone but them or someone that knew our special keyphrase "goldenrod." That following spring, a bunch of high school guys tried to get me into their car on my walk home, they didn't know the word (and laughed at that idea) and tried to grab me but I screamed, kicked and ran. Would I have been more willing to go had it not been for Amy? I don't know. Would anything bad have happened to me? Probably not, but you never know. When I heard about this book on the news recently, I immediately ordered it and read it in one day. To me the story is concise and amazing. Being so young at the time there were a LOT of details I had no idea about - most importantly that someone called her and this was an arranged meeting. The amount of information in this novel is amazing. Anyone that lived in the area, or that is interested in true crime novels is sure to want to read this book. It isn't too over the top with details that aren't important but full of the ones that are. I'm curious to know where the investigation has gone and if they are any closer to killing Amy.

I thought James Renner did a great job getting all the facts of the case out through his writing. I read this book, cover to cover, in less than 48 hours...that's how concise and compelling it was. Each suspect that is mentioned makes you think, "Aha! He's the one that killed Amy!" Then another suspect appears and makes you think that this person is the one. I hope and pray that someday the true killer is found. No questions, no doubting. Let this little girl rest in peace.

I knew Amy very well......there wasn't a sweeter girl anywhere. Mr. Renner has done a wonderful job of examining in detail the most important aspects of this case. I pray that some good can finally come out of this tragedy and give some peace to her brother and father. I have read the book three times and keep finding something else of interest in it. .

I recognized James Renner's name when I saw it in the newspaper. I had known him from my college days at Kent State University. Working in the criminal justice system naturally has me interested in "true crime" stories. While I didn't grow up in the Cleveland area, many coworkers had told me how prominent this case was. I bought the book. Two days later, I had passed it on to a coworker who read it in two days, another who read it overnight, and another who took three days. It's THAT good. Even better...the four of us all came up with different conclusions as to which suspects we think did it. James meticulously goes through and discusses each and every individual he interviewed. More importantly, I'm happy that James' book has stirred up so much publicity and it's quite likely that even more leads will come up because of this book. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds of this book is being donated to a local organization (which I can't remember off the top of my head).

Take a good look at the cover of this book, and you'll see why the name Amy Mihaljevic still resonates in the Cleveland area. For that matter, possibly anyone anywhere in the country will recognize her name and her picture as she smiles at you from the cover of this book. It's entirely believable that the eleven-year-old James Renner fell in love with that photo when the ten-year-old Amy was abducted from a shopping plaza in Bay Village. The date was October 27, 1989, and for the young James, it was love at first sight when he saw her photo on the nightly news. He may no longer be in love with her, but neither can he get her out of his mind. In this meticulously-crafted and engaging book--which is both memoir and true-crime--Renner begins with the events of that day and continues until this one. Always in the back of his mind was the idea that someday he would find Amy's abductor and killer, and bring that person to justice. Coincidence rides along on his shoulders, too, through the years as he peels back layer after layer of rumor, untruths, secrecy from a multitude of law enforcement agencies and people who knew various members of the Mihaljevic family. He travels throughout Ohio, and even to Wisconsin, where Amy's ashes were buried with her mother. Through his own wide-eyed naïveté, he puts himself in precarious situations time and time again, but somehow emerges unscathed--physically. The writing project began simply enough--as a short feature for a local weekly `alternative' newspaper, but his compulsion to find Amy's killer would not let him stop with such a brief bit of writing. Thankfully, his wife recognized the importance of getting the entire story--or at least as much as he could--although he did change papers and editors in the process. Renner does not succeed in exposing the killer, although clues to that person's identity--as he unearthed them--are sprinkled through the pages. They're filtered, however, by the various law enforcement agencies, and the inevitable conspiracy theories that still, to this today, abound in this area. The case is still an open file in Bay Village. Someday, maybe . . .