Anne Perry

 

Anne Perry (born October 28 1938), born Juliet Hulme in Blackheath, London, England, is a British historical novelist and convicted murderer (see also Parker-Hulme murder).

Early life

The daughter of Dr. Henry Hulme, an English physicist, Perry (then known as Juliet Hulme) was diagnosed with tuberculosis as a child and sent to the Caribbean and South Africa in hopes that a warmer climate would improve her health. She rejoined her family when her father took a position as Rector of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand when she was 13.

Together with her school friend Pauline Parker, Juliet murdered Pauline's mother in June 1954. Juliet's parents were in the process of separating, and Juliet was supposed to go to South Africa to stay with a relative. The two teenage girls, who had concocted a rich fantasy life together populated with famous actors such as James Mason and Orson Welles, did not want to be separated. They had hoped to go to England with Juliet's father after the divorce.

Pauline's mother, Honora Rieper^[1], objected to the closeness of the girls' friendship and Pauline's isolation from other friends. Pauline believed that her mother would block her from leaving New Zealand with Juliet. Pauline began to write in her diary that she wished her mother to die, and eventually hatched a murder plot that she shared with Juliet.

Murder and trial

Main article: Parker-Hulme murder

On June 22, 1954, the girls took Honora Rieper for a walk in Victoria Park in their hometown of Christchurch. On an isolated path Juliet dropped an ornamental stone so that Ms. Rieper would lean over to retrieve it. At that point, Pauline had planned to hit her mother with half a brick wrapped in a stocking. The girls presumed that would kill the woman. Instead, it took 45 frenzied blows from both girls to finally kill Honora Rieper. The brutality of the crime has contributed to its notoriety.

Pauline and Juliet stood trial in Christchurch in 1954, and were found guilty on August 29 of that year. As they were too young to be considered for the death penalty under New Zealand law at the time, they were convicted and sentenced to be "detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure". In practice, this sentence meant they were to be detained at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. They were released separately some five years later. A condition of their release was that they were never to meet or contact each other again.

These events formed the basis for the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, in which Kate Winslet portrayed teenaged Juliet Hulme.

New life

After being released from prison, Juliet returned to England and became a flight attendant. For a period she lived in the United States, where she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She later settled in the Scottish village of Portmahomack where she lived with her mother. Her father went on to a distinguished scientific career, heading the British hydrogen bomb programme.

Juliet took the name "Anne Perry", the latter being her step-father's surname. Her first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was published under this name in 1979. Her works generally fall into one of several categories of genre fiction, including historical murder mysteries and detective fiction. Many of them feature a number of recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt, who appeared in her first novel, and amnesiac police inspector William Monk, who first appeared in her 1990 novel The Face of a Stranger. As of 2003 she had published 47 novels, and several collections of short stories. Her story "Heroes", which first appeared the 1999 anthology Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, won the 2001 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.

In March 2006, Perry said that while her relationship with Pauline Parker was obsessive, they were not lesbians, as (arguably) portrayed in the film Heavenly Creatures. Pauline (under another name) still lives in New Zealand. She and Anne are not believed to have had any contact since their trial, as required by the conditions of their release. (NZ Herald). Recently Perry was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.^[2]

Bibliography

Each series is listed in internal chronological order, according to the author's website [1].

Featuring William Monk

• The Face of a Stranger
• A Dangerous Mourning
• Defend and Betray
• A Sudden, Fearful Death
• The Sins of the Wolf
• Cain His Brother
• Weighed in the Balance
• The Silent Cry
• A Breach of Promise
• The Twisted root
• Slaves of Obsession
• Funeral in Blue
• Death of a Stranger
• The Shifting Tide
• Dark Assassin

Featuring Thomas Pitt

• The Cater Street Hangman (1979)
• Callander Square (1980)
• Paragon Walk (1981)
• Resurrection Row (1981)
• Bluegate Fields (1984)
• Rutland Place (1983)
• Death in Devil's Acre (1985)
• Cardington Crescent (1987)
• Silence in Hanover Close (1988)
• Bethlehem Road (1990)
• Highgate Rise (1991)
• Belgrave Square (1992)
• Farrier's Lane (1993)
• The Hyde Park Headsman (1994)
• Traitors Gate (1995)
• Pentecost Alley (1996)
• Ashworth Hall (1997)
• Brunswick Gardens (1998)
• Bedford Square (1999)
• Half Moon Street (1998)
• The Whitechapel Conspiracy (2001)
• Southampton Row (2002)
• Seven Dials (2003)
• Long Spoon Lane (2005)
• African Passage (due April 7, 2008)

The World War 1 series

• No Graves As Yet
• Shoulder the Sky
• Angels in the Gloom
• At some Disputed Barricade (October 2006 UK. 18th March 2007, USA)
• We Shall Not Sleep (10th April,2007, USA)

The Christmas stories

• A Christmas Journey
• A Christmas Visitor
• A Christmas Guest (Winter 2006)
• A Christmas Secret © 2006

Other books

• Tathea
• Come Armageddon
• A Dish Taken Cold
• Death By Dickens (Short stories by various authors)
• Death by Horoscope (Short stories by various authors)
• I'd Kill For That (One novel written by various authors)
• The One Thing More
• Letter From The Highlands
• Much Ado About Murder (Short stories by various authors)

Notes

1. ^ Although Honora used the surname Rieper, she was never legally married to Herbert Rieper. During the murder trial she was referred to as Honora Parker.
2. ^ Ben Peek, Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, Wheatland Press, USA, page 96, 2006.

See also

• LDS fiction

External links

• Original Newspaper articles of the trial
• Crimelibrary.com story on the Parker-Hulme Murder
• Official Anne Perry website
• Fantastic Fiction's Anne Perry page

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