I love Anne Perry’s books, so I was curious and at the same time hesitant to pick this up. Frankly, I didn’t want to be reminded that someone who created such likeable and morally upright characters as Thomas Pitt and William Monk was capable of a heinous crime, even if it did happen when she was practically a child. However, I also love true crime, so my curiosity won out.
Some may be familiar with the story from the 1994 move Heavenly Creatures, starring Kate Winslet, which was based on the events of the crime (the movie’s release was what led to the revelation of Anne Perry’s identity).
On a summer day in 1954 , when Anne Perry (then named Juliet Hulme) was 15, she and her best friend Pauline Parker brutally bludgeoned to death Pauline’s mother, Honorah, in a peaceful New Zealand park. The two friends had an intense relationship based on love of writing and the belief that they were geniuses who inhabited a special world in which only a select few were entitled to dwell. A lesbian relationship was speculated upon at the time, but Graham is noncommittal on this as a significant factor in the case, and Perry herself denied such a relationship. The motive for the crime appears to have been that the pair were about to be separated against their will by their parents.
Peter Graham takes us through events leading up to the event and its aftermath in detail, giving users a fair perspective on the background of both girls and how it influenced their relationship and ultimately their crime. The girls were barely teenagers and obviously immature and detached from the reality of what they were doing—yet the brutality of the crime, and its level of premeditation, is chilling.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book is the author’s look into the lives of the perpetrators years after the crime, after Anne Perry had become a household name. How does Anne Perry see those long ago events now? Her level of remorse and acknowledgement of responsibility do not seem to square with the facts as presented by the author, and although he does not pretend to have easy answers, he raises interesting questions which I thought about for a long time after reading the book.
If you’ve ever read one of Anne Perry’s Thomas Pitt or William Monk mystery novels, you’ll know that although the revelation of the truth and pursuit of justice are paramount, it is often the case that the revealed killer and his or her motivations are portrayed with sympathy. It will be difficult for me to read one of Perry’s novels now without thinking about this dichotomy and how it relates to her own life.
Check the WRL catalog for Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century.
Blogging for a Good Book 
Very chilling book review!
Very interesting piece. Thanks for the tip.
Have you read “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson or “The Alienist” by Caleb Carr? Excellent crime books. The former is non-fiction.
Have I been living under a rock? I have never heard this story before; how fascinating! Not a Perry fan but I did work in a bookstore for a decade and had no idea of her history. I will have to see if the Winnipeg Public Library carries this book.
I actually heard about her history as a murderess before I ever read her books – it’s actually what inspired me to pick up one of her mysteries. I like her writing a lot, even though I don’t usually go for mysteries, but it’s strange to try and push her background info out of my head while I’m reading. I’ll have to look for this book! I wish I’d known about it when I was so interested in the case a few years ago.
wow… I’ve never been into true-crime… but I do always wonder about authors who write such stuff… and to think such a famous one had done such a terrible thing… I’ll definitely have to check it out…
Reblogged this on Meong Shun.
If i didn’t believe in redemption I probably could not read her books any longer. Somethimes, although we will never fully forget, we must put past experiences aside and not make judgments. It seems she has lived a good and useful life with no violent lapses, perhaps she deserves the benefit of the doubt.
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The movie was VERY bizarre, but then so is the sociopath. Perry’s books are quite good actually. Interesting review. Thank you.