Author Anne Perry Writes Victorian Mysteries and Christmas Books...And Spent Time in Prison

Anne Perry (October 28, 1938) is a prolific writer of detective and mystery novels, who is also a convicted murderess. Ms. Perry (then known as Juliet Hulme) served time as an accomplice to the murder her best friend's mother in New Zealand in June of 1954 while still a teen-ager. She was played in the movie "Heavenly Creatures" by Kate Winslet in Winslet's film debut. The film by Peter Jackson "outed" Ms. Perry in 1994 and made her true identity as Juliet Hulme known to the world.

Ms. Perry adopted the surname "Perry," her step-father's name, after serving five years in prison in New Zealand, from age 16 to 21. As a condition of their release, the two teen-aged murderers were never to see each other again. Anne now lives in the remote Scottish village of Portmahomack.

Following her release from prison after trial in August of 1954 in New Zealand, Juliet Hulme changed her name to Anne Perry and fled to America, where she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and worked in a variety of odd jobs, including work as a stewardess and as a limousine dispatcher in Beverley Hills. Ms. Perry continued the writing she had done as a child. In 1979, at age 41, she was successful in publishing her first novel, TheCater Street Hangman

In her writing, many of Anne Perry's novels feature a Victorian setting. Anne Perry has written over 50 novels and several collections of short stories, including a Christmas series of books. I met with Anne Perry at the "Love Is Murder" conference in Chicago.

Q: How do you manage to be so prolific?

A: I love what I do. Life is not going to be long enough for all the writing I would like to do.

Q? How many hours a day do you write?

A: Well, I work probably from 9 to 9, roughly, but there are other things to do as well as actually writing. I mean, there are letters to be written, thinking, and research. I don't do anything else.

Q: You have said, "I found that I was totally absorbed by what happens to people under pressure of investigation, how old relationships and trusts are eroded and new ones formed." What is your biggest observation about what happens to people under pressureof investigation?

A: That we make superficial judgments, and when people are under pressure they can be very different from what we have supposed. They can be better or worse. We only know the very surface of people; when pressure occurs, then we get to see what's deeper inside. Sometimes it's just what the surface would indicate, but sometimes it's not what we think at all. When we put people under pressure, we discover things we did not know. It takes a very brave person to live well. Following orders does not excuse you from your actions. To see yourself as others see you is not a pleasant experience. Are we not tempted not to look at what we don't want to see? As Nancy Pickard said, "All good writing is a journey of self-exploration."

Q: You describe your highest ambition as being to "write something that would enrich and inspire others." Which of your works do you feel has come closest in that quest?

A: Probably not reaching the most people, but reaching the most truth would be the answer, insofar as you ever know, because you usually don't know.

Q:You have said that there was never anything you seriously wished to do except write.

A: That's right.

Q:But you were an airline stewardess for a while....?

A: Well, you've got to eat. It wasn't my ambition to be an airline stewardess, but it was my ambition to support myself until I could get published.

Q: How did you like being an airline stewardess?

A: Flying waitresses. It took twenty years for my first book to be published and during that time I also worked in clerical, retail selling, fashion, ship and shore stewardess, insurance underwriter and as a limousine dispatcher in Beverly Hills.

Q: If you were not writing now, what else could you see yourself doing today. Retirement?

A: I still need to eat. I'd have to take in laundry or something.

Q:You have written historical mystery novels...fantasy novels....short story collections. Do you have a favorite form?

A: The next one.

Q:Explain a bit more regarding your fascination with Victorian England...how it originated?

A: Very, very, very simply. The first book I wrote which was accepted by a publisher was set in Victorian England. (The Cater Street Hangman, 1979). One word, "yes"...was all it took.

Q:So it wasn't just that you were fascinated by the Victorian period?

A: No. No, no, no, no. The first book I wrote that was accepted was Victorian, so I made the next book Victorian, and I hoped that they would accept that, as well. There are lots of other periods that I love. I love the French Revolution, and I've got one book in that period that is coming out here in America. I like the World War I period. I like the Spanish Inquisition period. But I started with the Victorian one, and they (the publishers) said yes.

Q:Any particular period on your writing horizon now?

A: Yes, I'm working in the 1200s.

Q: Based on all the quotes from the characters in "Shoulder the Sky," in your own personal perspective, do you think that full disclosure of the details of a conflict should occur for those back home, so that they can make more informed decisions about continuing to fight the war?

A: No.

Q: Are you for releasing total information about a conflict or for being somewhat discreet?

A: I think you need to be (discreet), because, apart from anything else, you can never know the whole truth about something. You don't know. You only have part of the truth. And if you are going to say, "This is what happens if we go here", then you must also say, "This is what happens if we don't." If you say, "This is what is going to happen, or is likely to happen if we go forward and fight", then if you are going to be completely honest with the truth, then we need to say, "And if we don't (go forward and fight), this is what is going to happen. You are going to be occupied and lose your language, your freedoms, your freedom of religion. You are going to lose everything that makes you you." This is what it is like to live in an occupied country. You're going to end up with a civil war, with its trials, with internment, with occupying forces of resistance and collaborators." Is that preferable? You see, you need to say both. "A" is bad...ok. But maybe "B" is worse? Is it? We don't know.

Q:I found that idea of censoring the war news from the front a very interesting and a timely controversy (in the WWI series book "Shoulder the Sky.")

A: Thank you. Because, we don't know what the alternatives are. Lots of things are bad, but maybe the alternatives are worse. How can we possibly know? If you look at WWII, at Britain and what we had to pay to fight, then go look at what occupied France was like, see if you don't want to fight.

Q: Do you remember World War II yourself? Air raids and things of that sort?

A: Yes. My parents were both very stiff upper lip. I never saw my mother panic. Ever. And that comes through. It's pretty horrible putting up with the blitz, but we did.

Q: You do have a large cast of characters. Do you have a unique system for keeping track of them?

A: I don't, but I should. I trust to memory and I'm sure that sometimes it lets me down. I get people who occasionally track all my characters and tell me about them.

Q: Did you already know all the information about the building of the sewers beneath London that is in one of your books before writing it ?

A: No, I needed to find that out to see if the story was viable.

Q: Was it difficult to find that much detailed information on the building of the sewers beneath London?

A: No, not really.

Q: What kinds of things do you do to relax and have fun?

A: Meet good people. Talk. And I watch television.

Q: What advice do you have for writers?

A: As far as setting, the writer must evoke a time and place so sharply that the reader is drawn in. I like to write about turning points in culture, like the Victorian era, World War I. Then, I want to find out why and what are the issues. Why does this one person's death matter? What matters. Injustice matters. The work needs to reflect a series of issues. Vulnerabily in a character is interesting. Anyone who loves anyone else at all is going to be hurt. When they're hurt, you're hurt. Fears work well. There is fear of death. Fear of being disabled. Fear of poverty. Fear of failure or that we won't live up to our parents' expectations. Loneliness. Fear. Guilt. Disillusionment. A sense of rejection. To see yourself as others see you is not a pleasant experience. It's not nice to be disliked, is it? If we do find ourselves looking at a truth within ourselves that is not easy to accommodate, that is a good plot point. How often have you heard someone say, 'Look what you made me do?' Unrighteous dominion over other people is a good plot point. Emotional manipulation with things like infidelity, greed as motivations. These are all good if they represent and examine universal issues that everyone ponders. Another good plot point is often the search to be able to forgive. I like compassion for other people in my characters.

Q: Last word?

A: Last words...I'm not dying yet! Just thank you, thank you for being interested.