Our Book Editor, Claire Rorke selected “The Search for Anne Perry” as our book of the week.
Here is her review:
It was, as has been said so many times before, the crime that shocked New Zealand: two schoolgirls, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, committed a bloody and brutal murder in quaint 1950s Christchurch.
Dredged up and dissected in countless books, films and articles in the 58 years since the killing, New Zealanders seem to have an ongoing fascination with the grim details of the case.
The Search for Anne Perry is the latest addition to the Parker-Hulme chronicles.
However, unlike previous investigations into the crime and the people who committed it, this doesn’t rely on second-hand accounts and interviews.
For the first time, Anne Perry, known at the time of the murder as Juliet Hulme, has allowed unprecedented access to her life. She welcomed Kiwi author and academic Joanna Drayton into her isolated Scottish home, permitting her to speak with her friends and relatives, and opened up her personal archives.
Since the murder, Anne Perry has forged a career for herself as a crime author.
By closely analysing Anne’s bestselling books, Joanna reveals they are more than just simple murder mysteries; instead, she finds Anne has disclosed more of herself in her carefully crafted plots and characters than most readers could imagine.
Written with an inquisitive rather than sensationalist eye, The Search for Anne Perry successfully uncovers what’s beneath the elegant veneer of the woman who graces its cover.
