Successful British crime writer Anne Perry, who was involved in a murder when she was young, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Her Paris publisher 10/18 confirmed the death of the author of “The Strangler from Cater Street” and other titles on Facebook and Twitter late Wednesday evening. She died in a hospital in the west coast metropolis on Monday, US media quoted her agent Meg Davis as saying. Her health deteriorated after a heart attack in December 2022, Davis said.
The writer was known for her mysteries set in Victorian England. Perry was a prolific writer long before the dark chapter of her past was known, the New York Times wrote: “Give her a good murder and a shameful social evil, and Anne Perry can write a Victorian detective story that’s Dickens’ eyes.” would make shine,” wrote the literary critic Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times in a review of Perry’s “Highgate Rise” (1991). It was about the death of a social reformer, who was also the wife of a doctor, by arson.
Her death was announced with “great sadness”, wrote her Paris publisher. The writer was one of the most iconic authors in his catalog since 1997. Perry has sold more than 25 million books worldwide, with more than five million copies on 10/18 alone. She was known for her memorable characters, her historical accuracy, the quality of her crime stories and also for her exploration of social issues.
Anne Perry was born Juliet Hulme in London in 1938 and grew up in New Zealand. When she was 15, she and her friend killed her mother. The two had five years in prison, Perry changed her name. The murder case caused a stir and, according to the New York Times, became public knowledge in the summer of 1994. At that time, director Peter Jackson filmed the story in “Heavenly Creatures” with Kate Winslet as Hulme. Perry already regretted the act back then. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “It’s in the past,” she said in an interview.
However, traces of her past can be found in her work, which deals with sin and forgiveness. A lot of things in her novels are not what they seem. Perry, who joined the Mormon Church in the 1960s, had her breakthrough in 1979 with the thriller The Strangler of Cater Street. In it, Inspector Pitt had his first appearance. In 1990, she began a second crime series starring former police officer and private investigator William Monk in Stranger’s Face.