Anne Perry, 1938–2023.

Anne Perry, left, and Elizabeth Foxwell.
Photo by Dean James.

Last week I learned that Anne Perry, author of numerous mysteries and other books, had passed away at age 84. Many of the obituary treatments, in my view, failed to provide a true depiction of Anne's life and work (including one that referred to Anne as "matronly." Anne took care of herself and delighted in clothes; she was always a stylish figure, and I speak as one who once acted as her personal shopper). Although trying to accurately capture a multifaceted career in a brief space is always daunting, I attempt this below.

Anne and I were friends for some 30 years, stemming from early Malice Domestic conventions (she introduced the Malice Domestic 6 anthology and contributed to Murder, They Wrote II, both of which I coedited). I was a devoted fan of her Victorian mysteries with Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, as well as her other Victorian series with eventual private inquiry agent/river police officer William Monk and nurse Hester Latterly (I presented a paper on Hester at a Popular Culture Assn conference that was eventually published in Clues 22.2, 2001). We also shared an interest in World War I (she wrote five mysteries set during the war—one character, Joseph Reavley, was based on her grandfather, who had been a military chaplain during the war). Always up for new challenges, she also penned two fantasy novels, Tathea and Come Armegeddon; the novel The Sheen on the Silk set in 13th-century Constantinople; a series with photographer and spy Elena Standish; a series with the Pitts' son Daniel; and annual mysteries set around Christmas. In recent years, she was living in Los Angeles, because she was learning about screenwriting and was interested in seeing more of her works on screen after The Cater Street Hangman, the first in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, was adapted and shown in the UK and on A&E in the US in 1998. It starred Eoin McCarthy, Keeley Hawes, and John Castle. Anne appears in a cameo role—look for her in a scene set outside of a church. She told me that donning the various layers of Victorian garments was an educational experience. Although Anne hoped that this production would lead to further adaptations of other novels in the Pitt series, this did not occur. Over the years, there were nibbles about adaptations of the Monk series—Anne was especially excited about the prospect of Gabriel Byrne playing Monk, and she thought the actor Jonathan Hyde would make a fine Monk—but these did not pan out.

 

Anne, right, in The Cater Street Hangman.

I sometimes had to engage with people who had an incomplete understanding of the Parker-Hulme case, in which the teenaged Anne and her friend, Pauline Parker, killed Parker's mother (Juliet Hulme was Anne's original name; she later changed her surname to Perry, her stepfather's name). The two girls faced separation by their respective parents, who did not regard their intense friendship with favor (Anne's parents were separating, with Anne likely leaving the country, and Parker not permitted to join her). The trial in New Zealand did not have aspects that Americans would likely expect from US courts: for example, the right to testify in one's own defense. Also largely unknown is that Anne, who suffered from respiratory issues throughout her life, was on medication at the time of the crime that has since been found to impair judgment. In today's world, a case for diminished capacity might have been made. 

After serving 5.5 years in prison (see The Sins of the Wolf for Hester Latterly's time in prison, which Anne said she wrote "from the heart"), Anne sought to lead a useful life and pursue a writing career. As this Publishers Weekly piece notes, she worked hard at her craft, writing for long hours (in longhand) six days per week and always looking for ways she could improve (I remember her talking about reading a helpful book by her US agent, Don Maass, who has authored books on fiction writing). She often wrote about redemption (for example, in the Pitt series, with Dominic Corde, who goes from being a weak individual to finding purpose as a clergyman; and in the standalone historical novel The One Thing More), and she also wrote with compassion and insight about the vulnerable and the persecuted. She received an Edgar for her short story "Heroes" and a Malice Domestic award for lifetime achievement; was an Edgar nominee for her novel Pentecost Alley; was an Agatha nominee for The Face of a Stranger, Defend and Betray, and Buckingham Palace Gardens; and was a Macavity nominee for "Heroes," Half Moon Street, and Dark Assassin.

Because Anne often thought and wrote about "big questions," it can sometimes be forgotten that she had a lively sense of humor. This is especially evident with the supremely awful character of Grandmama (Charlotte Pitt's grandmother). One typical example of her behavior occurs in Highgate Rise, when Grandmama barges into the home of the Worlinghams, determined to pry into the household's bereavement despite her long disconnect from the family. The reader learns later in the series why Grandmama is a miserable person; although Grandmama remains her awful self, the reader has a better understanding of why she is the way she is. Although I can well imagine Anne's glee in inventing new ways that Grandmama could be tacky and boorish, I also think about Grandmama's contemporary in the series: the wise Vespasia Cumming-Gould (the great-aunt of the first husband of Charlotte's sister Emily), who, in contrast to the bitter Grandmama, continues her efforts to ameliorate ills and make a positive contribution to society. Although Anne was not afraid to address misery and injustice in her work, her overall message was one of hope. I particularly recall one fan at a signing telling Anne that her books had helped the fan during her treatment for cancer (thankfully, the fan was in remission).

It's very hard to realize that the annual Anne Christmas mysteries and other works will end; that congenial dinners with Anne will no longer occur; that no more warm notes will arrive in Anne's notoriously difficult handwriting. Rest in peace, Anne.

Left to right: Elizabeth Peters, Anne Perry, and
Phyllis A. Whitney at Malice Domestic V in 1993.
Photo by Laura Hyzy.