While looking for an author to showcase on Mystery Monday, I
decided to research Anne Perry. Several of my friends and colleagues are avid
fans of her novels, but I have not yet read her work. I often check the bio of authors prior to
reading their books. I enjoy learning about their backgrounds and the inspiration
for their stories.
Ms. Perry has written two series. One is set in the 1850s
and features William Monk with Hester Latterly, a Crimean nurse, as his
sidekick. The second series is set in the 1880s-1890s, and features Thomas Pitt and his partner Charlotte.
After a little bit of digging, I discovered Anne Perry was
born Juliet Marion Hulme, and she had changed her name after being released
from prison at the age of 21. She served a five year prison term for her part in
murdering her best friend’s mother. The two girls were very close, and were going
to be separated because Juliet’s (Anne) family was going to relocate out of the
area.
Was the murder an overreaction by two teenaged girls?
Anne was interviewed in 2003 after her identity was revealed
by a journalist, and a movie was produced about her case. Her response to the
question as to how she could commit murder? “I had been pushed to the limit.
Three days before the incident, my parents announced they were going to
divorce, and my father had lost his job…the shock was cataclysmic.” Anne asks, “Why
can’t I be judged for who I am now, not what I was then?”
The themes in her books are primarily repentance and
forgiveness. Not unusual considering her history. What seems unusual to me is that
she writes about murder, the very subject she’d like expunged from her
background.
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