Anne Perry


Anne Perry is an English author of historical detective fiction, best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she was convicted of participating in the murder of her friend's mother. She changed her name after serving her five-year sentence.

Early life

Born in Blackheath, London, the daughter of physicist Dr. Henry Rainsford Hulme, Perry 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. A 1948 Auckland Star photograph of Juliet arriving in New Zealand was discovered by Auckland Libraries staff and written about in the Heritage et AL blog. She rejoined her family when she was 13 after her father took a position as Rector of Canterbury University College in New Zealand. She attended Christchurch Girls' High School, located in what became the Cranmer Centre.

Murder and trial

In June 1954, at the age of 15, Hulme and her best friend Pauline Parker murdered Parker's mother, Honorah Rieper. Hulme'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 friends, who had created a rich fantasy life together populated with famous actors such as James Mason and Orson Welles, did not want to be separated.
On 22 June 1954, the girls and Honorah Rieper went for a walk in Victoria Park in their hometown of Christchurch. 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.
Parker and Hulme stood trial in Christchurch in 1954 and were found guilty on 29 August 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 they were detained at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. They were released separately five years later.
Parker and Hulme are not believed to have had any contact since the trial.
The events formed the basis for the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, in which Melanie Lynskey portrayed a teenage Pauline Parker and Kate Winslet the teenaged Juliet Hulme. At the time of the film's release, it was not generally known that mystery author "Anne Perry" was Juliet Hulme, whose identity was made public some months after the film's release. 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".

Later life

After being released from prison in November 1959, Hulme 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 in 1968. She later settled in the Scottish village of Portmahomack where she lived with her mother. Her father had a distinguished scientific career, heading the British hydrogen bomb programme.
Hulme took the name Anne Perry, using 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 feature 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. By 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.
In 2017, Anne Perry left Scotland and moved to Hollywood in order to more effectively promote films based on her novels.
In 2005, Perry appeared on the Trisha show to discuss the crime on a special themed show. A 2009 documentary film, Anne Perry Interiors, gave a snapshot of her life and the people close to her.

Featuring Thomas Pitt

  1. The Cater Street Hangman
  2. Callander Square
  3. Paragon Walk
  4. Resurrection Row
  5. Rutland Place
  6. Bluegate Fields
  7. Death in the Devil's Acre
  8. Cardington Crescent
  9. Silence in Hanover Close
  10. Bethlehem Road
  11. Highgate Rise
  12. Belgrave Square
  13. Farrier's Lane
  14. The Hyde Park Headsman
  15. Traitors Gate
  16. Pentecost Alley
  17. Ashworth Hall
  18. Brunswick Gardens
  19. Bedford Square
  20. Half Moon Street
  21. The Whitechapel Conspiracy
  22. Southampton Row
  23. Seven Dials
  24. Long Spoon Lane
  25. Buckingham Palace Gardens
  26. Betrayal at Lisson Grove
  27. Dorchester Terrace
  28. Midnight at Marble Arch
  29. Death on Blackheath
  30. The Angel Court Affair
  31. Treachery at Lancaster Gate
  32. Murder on the Serpentine

    Featuring Daniel Pitt

  33. Twenty-One Days
  34. Triple Jeopardy
  35. One Fatal Flaw

    Featuring William Monk

  36. The Face of a Stranger
  37. A Dangerous Mourning
  38. Defend and Betray
  39. A Sudden, Fearful Death
  40. The Sins of the Wolf
  41. Cain His Brother
  42. Weighed in the Balance
  43. The Silent Cry
  44. A Breach of Promise
  45. The Twisted Root
  46. Slaves of Obsession
  47. A Funeral in Blue
  48. Death of a Stranger
  49. The Shifting Tide
  50. Dark Assassin
  51. Execution Dock
  52. Acceptable Loss
  53. A Sunless Sea
  54. Blind Justice
  55. Blood on the Water
  56. Corridors of the Night
  57. Revenge in a Cold River
  58. An Echo of Murder
  59. Dark Tide Rising

    Featuring Elena Standish

  60. Death in Focus
  61. A Question of Betrayal

    The World War I series

  62. No Graves As Yet
  63. Shoulder the Sky
  64. Angels in the Gloom
  65. At Some Disputed Barricade
  66. We Shall Not Sleep

    The Christmas stories

  67. A Christmas Journey
  68. A Christmas Visitor
  69. A Christmas Guest
  70. A Christmas Secret
  71. A Christmas Beginning
  72. A Christmas Grace
  73. A Christmas Promise
  74. A Christmas Odyssey
  75. A Christmas Homecoming
  76. A Christmas Garland
  77. A Christmas Hope
  78. A New York Christmas
  79. A Christmas Escape
  80. A Christmas Message
  81. A Christmas Return
  82. A Christmas Revelation

    The Christmas Collections

  83. An Anne Perry Christmas: Two Holiday Novels – contains A Christmas Journey and A Christmas Visitor
  84. Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries: Two Holiday Novels – contains A Christmas Guest and A Christmas Secret
  85. Anne Perry's Silent Nights: Two Victorian Christmas Mysteries – contains A Christmas Beginning and A Christmas Grace
  86. Anne Perry's Christmas Vigil: Two Victorian Holiday Mysteries – contains A Christmas Promise and A Christmas Odyssey
  87. Anne Perry's Christmas Crimes: Two Victorian Holiday Mysteries – contains A Christmas Homecoming and A Christmas Garland
  88. Anne Perry's Merry Mysteries: Two Victorian Holiday Novels – contains A Christmas Hope and A New York Christmas

    Fantasy

  89. Tathea
  90. Come Armageddon

    Timepiece series (young adult novels)

  91. Tudor Rose
  92. Rose of No Man's Land
  93. Blood Red Rose
  94. Rose Between Two Thorns

    Other books