After a series of childhood tragedies & errors, Anne Perry took her stepfather's name of Perry & legally changed her name. Born Juliet Hulme in Blackheath, London, England in October 1938, Anne Perry moved around a lot during & after the war. From the ages of six to eight, she was severely ill & as a result was fostered with a family in the Bahamas that she credits with saving her life. When that family moved to New Zealand, Perry went with them & lived a "Swiss Family Robinson style of independence".
By the time she was ten, Perry had missed three years of school, but her love of reading - instilled in her by her mother - allowed her to catch up quickly. After another bout of illness at the age of thirteen, she was taken out of school completely. Even with a series of jobs, all Anne Perry really wanted to do was write. She credits her father with the encouragement to write her ideas down, however she was in her twenties before she tried putting together a manuscript. Part of her life growing up was made into a movie called Heavenly Creatures. Her friend Pauline and she was sentenced to some jail time and never to see each other again because her friend and her killed Paulines mother(not sure the exact role she played in Paulines mother demise.) To find out more about the movie and the case here is a site http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/2194/
Her first published book, The Cater Street Hangman, was published in 1979, & came about due to her stepfather's suggestion about who Jack the Ripper might have been. Along with this discussion, came Perry's desire to write Victorian mysteries.
The Cater Street Hangman, introduced Inspector Thomas Pitt - a gently-raised Bowstreet policeman & Charlotte Ellison - a gently-born social reformer. The Inspector Thomas Pitt series includes:
The Cater Street Hangman; Resurrection Row; Belgrave Square; Bluegate Fields; Death in the Devil's Acre; Cardington Crescent; Silence in Hanover Close; Bethlehem Road; Highgate Rise; Farriers' Lane; The Hyde Park Headsman; Traitors Gate; Pentacost Alley; Ashworth Hall; Brunswick Gardens; Bedford Square; Half Moon Street; The Whitechapel Conspiracy; Southampton Row; Seven Dials; Long Spoon Lane.
Several years later, Anne Perry began a darker series of Victorian mysteries featuring police detective William Monk - a man who wakes up in a London hospital with amnesia. The William Monk series includes: The Face of a Stranger; A Dangerous Mourning; Defend & Betray; A Sudden Fearful Death; The Sins of the Wolf; Cain His Brother; Weighed in the Balance; The Silent Cry; A Breach of Promise Whited Sepulchres (U.K.); The Twisted Root; Slaves & Obsession; A Funeral in Blue; Death of a Stranger; The Shifting Tide; Dark Assassin.
She has also written a series which takes place during World War I, as well as two fantasy books; Talthea & Come Armageddon. She says she will keep writing her two best-known series "as long as anyone is still interested in reading them."
Anne Perry's favorite books are The Epic of Gilgamesh & The Devine Comedy; her favorite authors are G.K. Chesterton & Oscar Wilde. Her website is: www.anneperry.net.