Anne Perry’s Dark Past: The Mystery Behind the Mystery Writer
Anne Perry is a widely published mystery writer with dozens of books to her credit. Born in 1938 with a vivid imagination, she struggled as a writer without publishing a book for many years. It wasn’t until she tried her hand at writing in a different time period, the Victorian Era, did she strike commercial success. Her first book, The Cater Street Hangman was published in 1979. Since then she has worked hard, often producing two books a year. Mystery fans enjoy her ability to weave a dark tale in a different time. But there’s something not many people know about Perry’s past: she has a personal history with murder.
Perry was convicted of helping murder her best friend’s mother as a teen, both girls taking turns beating her with a brick after luring her to a secluded wooded area. At that time she was known as Juliet Hulme. After the trial she served a short 5-year sentence and was forbidden to ever have contact with her friend again. It is believed the two women have not seen each other since. The prosecutor on the case was quoted as saying the killing was a “coldly, callously-planned murder committed by two highly intelligent and sane but precocious and dirty-minded little girls.” http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/studio/2194/faq2/library/7.9.5.html
This information surfaced with the 1994 release of independent film Heavenly Creatures. The film was set in New Zealand, from 1952 to 1954. Heavenly Creatures was not a blockbuster, but did attract attention as a well-made indie film starring Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme (a.k.a. Anne Perry), and Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Rieper http://www.reelviews.net/movies/h/heavenly.html. In the film the two teenagers Pauline, 15 and Juliet, 17 form an intense friendship that lasts two years. Their parents deem the friendship unhealthy and separate the pair. In an effort to remove the primary barrier to their friendship, a decision is made to kill Rieper’s mother. Directed by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings trilogy fame), the film sparked a search for the two women it was based upon. The search unearthed Perry, much to her dismay.
On her website http://www.anneperry.net/3.html, Perry acknowledges the film, but clearly does not wish to discuss the incident. She states, “I have been asked questions occasionally about the film, ‘Heavenly Creatures’, but I cannot answer them. Neither I nor my family and friends knew anything about it until the day before it was released, and I have preferred not to see it, or comment on the accuracy or otherwise of anypart of it. I am very grateful to that vast majority of generous people who allow me to move on and leave that grief behind.”
