Anne Perry (1938-2023)

Author Anne Perry, 84, died April 10, 2023 in Los Angeles CA. Though best known for mystery novels (notably the Thomas Pitt and William Monk series), she also did occasional genre work, including Tathea (1999) and sequel Come Armageddon (2001), the Timepiece sequence, and anthology Death by Horoscope (2001).

Perry was born Juliet Marion Hulme on October 28, 1938 in London, and spent time in the Caribbean, South Africa, and New Zealand while growing up. In 1954, at age 15, she and her 16-year-old best friend Pauline Parker plotted and carried out the murder of Parker’s mother, Honorah Rieper, in Christchurch, New Zealand. After five years in prison, Perry changed her name and went back to the UK. Her identity was not widely known until the 1990s, when the truth emerged following the release of director Peter Jackson’s film about the crime, Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Perry worked as a flight attendant and lived in the US for a time before settling in Scotland for most of her life. In 2017, Perry relocated to Los Angeles. Debut novel The Cater Street Hangman appeared in 1979, and in all, she wrote over 100 books. Final book The Fourth Enemy appeared shortly before her death.