Trivia

After Perry's identity as Hulme was revealed in 1994, she said: 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.

On 22 June 1954, the girls and Rieper went for a walk in Victoria Park in the Port Hills 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 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 "detained at Her Majesty's pleasure". They were released separately five years later. At the time of Hulme's death in 2023, Parker and Hulme were 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; 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".

Bestselling crime fiction writer who has sold over 25 million books worldwide.

Her final novel, The Fourth Enemy, was published the week before her death.

Her father had a distinguished scientific career, heading the British hydrogen bomb programme.

Her story "Heroes", which first appeared in the 1999 anthology Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, won the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.

As of 2014, Perry had published 29 novels in the Pitt series, 20 novels in the Monk series, ten other novels for adults, three young adult novels and 11 mystery novellas with Christmas themes. Publishers Weekly noted that her sales at that time exceeded 10 million copies and that her works regularly appeared on The New York Times bestseller list.

In 2017, Perry left Scotland and moved to Los Angeles in order to more effectively promote films based on her novels.

She said that she was surprised that her friends stuck by her despite the revelation of her identity and the ensuing media attention.

In 1994, it became public knowledge that Perry had been convicted for murder as a teenager. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker had been convicted of the murder of Parker's mother, Honorah Rieper in Christchurch, New Zealand. After serving a five-year sentence for the murder, she changed her name and returned to the United Kingdom. She was identified by journalists following the release of the movie Heavenly Creatures, directed by Peter Jackson, in which Kate Winslet portrays Hulme (Perry).

In 1998 she was featured by The Times in its list of 100 "masters of crime".

In 2005, Perry appeared on the Trisha show to discuss her murder conviction on a special themed show.

In 2009 she received a lifetime achievement award at the Agatha Awards.

After being released from prison in November 1959, Hulme returned to England and became a flight attendant.[13] For a period she lived in the United States, where she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1968.[14] She later settled in the Scottish village of Portmahomack, where she lived with her mother.

Portrayed by Kate Winslet in the film Créatures célestes (1994).

Under the terms of her release from prison she and Pauline Parker Reiper were never to see one another again; if they do, they will be returned to prison to serve a life sentence. Perry had sent many letters to Reiper while in prison and upon the her release from prison five years after Perry, but Pauline never replied.

The heroine of one of her books was portrayed by Keeley Hawes in The Cater Street Hangman (1998).

Perry was a British writer best known as the author of the Thomas Pitt and William Monk series of historical detective fiction.

In 2013 and 2020 she was a guest of honour at the Bouchercon mystery fiction convention.

Perry was diagnosed with tuberculosis as a child and sent to the Caribbean, South Africa, and New Zealand in hopes that a warmer climate would improve her health. She rejoined her family after her father took a position as rector of Canterbury University College in New Zealand.

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.

She attended Christchurch Girls' High School, located in what became the Cranmer Centre.

A 2009 documentary film, Anne Perry Interiors, gave a snapshot of her life and the people close to her.

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.

A 1948 Auckland Star photograph of Juliet arriving in New Zealand was discovered by Auckland Libraries staff in 2012 and written about in the Heritage et AL blog.