In 1994, it became public knowledge that Perry had been convicted of murder inChristchurch, New Zealand in 1954 when she was fifteen. She and her sixteen-year-old friend Pauline Parkermurdered Parker's mother, Honorah. After serving a five-year sentence for the murder, Perry changed her name from Juliet Hulme and returned to the United Kingdom. She was identified by the media following the release of the filmHeavenly Creatures, directed byPeter Jackson, which is based on the case.
Juliet Marion Hulme was born on 28 October 1938 in London, the second child and first daughter of physicistHenry Rainsford Hulme. Hulme was diagnosed withtuberculosis as a child and sent to theCaribbean, South Africa, and New Zealand in hopes that a warmer climate would improve her health.[1] She rejoined her family after her father took a position asrector ofCanterbury University College in New Zealand. She attendedChristchurch Girls' High School, located in what became theCranmer Centre.[2][1] A 1948Auckland Star photograph of Hulme arriving in New Zealand was discovered by Auckland Libraries staff in 2012 and written about in theHeritage et AL blog.[3]
In June 1954, at the age of 15, Hulme and her best friendPauline Parker murdered Parker's mother, Honorah Rieper.[4][5] Hulme's parents were in the process of separating and she was supposed to go to South Africa to stay with a relative.[6] The two teenage friends, who had created a complicated fantasy life together populated with celebrities such asMario Lanza andJames Mason, did not want to be separated.[1][7]
On 22 June 1954, the girls and Rieper went for a walk inVictoria Park in the Port Hills ofChristchurch. On an isolated path, Hulme dropped an ornamental stone so that Rieper would lean over to retrieve it. Parker had planned to hit her mother with half a brick wrapped in a stocking. The girls presumed that one blow would kill her but it took more than 20.[6]
Parker and Hulme stood trial in Christchurch in 1954 and were found guilty on 28 August. 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 "detainedat Her Majesty's pleasure". They were released separately five years later.[8] At the time of Perry's death in 2023, Parker and Perry were not believed to have had any contact since the trial.[9][10]
The events formed the basis for the 1994 filmHeavenly Creatures, in whichMelanie Lynskey portrayed a teenaged Pauline Parker andKate Winslet played the teenaged Juliet Hulme. At the time of the film's release, it was not generally known that Anne Perry was Juliet Hulme; her identity was made public after journalists tracked her down some months after the film's release.[11] Although some presumed Hulme and Parker's relationship to be sexual, Perry stated in 2006 that, while the relationship was obsessive, the two "were never lesbians".[10][12]
Hulme took the name Anne Perry, using her stepfather's surname.[9] Her first novel,The Cater Street Hangman, was published under this name in 1979.[9] Her works generally fall into one of several categories ofgenre fiction, including historical murder mysteries anddetective fiction. Many feature recurring characters, most importantlyThomas and Charlotte Pitt, who appeared in her first novel, andamnesiac private investigatorWilliam Monk, who first appeared in her 1990 novelThe Face of a Stranger.
After Perry's identity as Hulme was revealed in 1994, she said:[12]
It seemed so unfair. Everything I had worked to achieve as a decent member of society was threatened. And once again my life was being interpreted by someone else. It had happened in court when, as a minor, I wasn't allowed to speak and I heard all these lies being told. And now there was a film, but nobody had bothered to talk to me. I knew nothing about it until the day before release. All I could think of was that my life would fall apart and that it might kill my mother.
She continued writing and said that she was surprised that her friends stuck by her despite the revelation of her identity and the ensuing media attention.[12] In 1998 she was featured byThe Times in its list of 100 "masters of crime".[1] Her story "Heroes", which first appeared in the 1999 anthologyMurder and Obsession, edited byOtto Penzler, won the 2000Edgar Award for Best Short Story.[1]
In 2005, Perry appeared on theTrisha show to discuss her murder conviction on a special themed show.[16] A 2009 documentary film,Anne Perry Interiors, gave a snapshot of her life and the people close to her.[17] In 2009 she received a lifetime achievement award at theAgatha Awards.[18][19] In 2013 and 2020 she was a guest of honour at theBouchercon mystery fiction convention.[1] At the time of her death in 2023, Perry had published 102 books: 32 novels in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, 6 novels in the Daniel Pitt series, 24 novels in the Monk series, five books in her WWI series, five books in her Elena Standish series, four young adult novels, two fantasy novels, and 22 mystery novellas with Christmas themes, as well as a number of essays and short stories.[20] Her UK publisher, Headline, reported that she had sold 25 million copies.[21] Her works regularly appeared onThe New York Times bestseller list.[20]
In 2017, Perry left Scotland and moved to the USA in order to more effectively promote films based on her novels.[22] She had a heart attack in December 2022, and died at a hospital in Los Angeles on 10 April 2023, aged 84.[1][23] Her novelThe Fourth Enemy, the sixth Daniel Pitt novel, was published the day after her death.[9]
Each series is listed in internal chronological order, according to the author's website.[24]
Perry's two main series each feature a male and a female protagonist. Thomas Pitt is matched with his wife Charlotte, while William Monk is matched with Hester Latterly, aCrimean War nurse.[25] The Monk mysteries are set earlier in the Victorian era (1850s–1860s) than the Pitt books (1880s–1890s).
Drayton J. (2012)The Search for Anne Perry, HarperCollins.[54]
Graham P. (2011).So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme and the murder that shocked the world. Awa Press.;[55] re-issued in 2013 as Graham P. (2013)Anne Perry and the murder of the century. Skyhorse Publications[56]
^Graves, Joanne (29 June 2012)."Juliet Hulme".heritageetal.blogspot.co.nz.Blogger.Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved23 August 2015.Whilst scrolling through microfilms on a job for a customer, I came across an interesting photo in a 1948 copy of the Auckland Star.
^Honorah used the surname Rieper although she was never legally married to Herbert Rieper.
^Drayton, Joanne (5 September 2012)."The search for Anne Perry".New Zealand History.Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved14 April 2023.
^Tayler, R. J. (1991). "Henry Rainsford Hulme, 9 August 1908 – 8 January 1991".Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.32 (3): 313.Bibcode:1991QJRAS..32..313T.
^Graham, Peter (2012).So brilliantly clever: Parker, Hulme and the murder that shocked the world. Wellington, N.Z.: Awa Press.ISBN978-1-877551-47-5.OCLC813830215.
