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Anne Perry

Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme in Blackheath, London on 28 October 1938) is an English author of historical detective fiction, as well as a 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, Honora Rieper, in June 1954. Juliet's parents were in the process of separating, and she 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.

Murder and trial

On 22 June 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.

Pauline and Anne are not believed to have had any contact since their trial, as required by the conditions of their release.

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

In 2005, Perry appeared on the Trisha show to discuss the crime on a special themed show.

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 stepfather'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 private investigator 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 in the 1999 anthology Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, won the 2001 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.