The Search for Anne Perry

By: Joanne Drayton

Narrated by: Susannah Tyrrell

Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

An authorized, literary biography of crime writer Anne Perry, formerly known as Juliet Hulme, one of the murderers immortalized in the acclaimed film Heavenly Creatures. In 1994, director Peter Jackson released the film Heavenly Creatures, based on a famous 1950s matricide committed in New Zealand by two teenage girls embroiled in an obsessive relationship. This film launched Jackson's international career. It also forever changed the life of Anne Perry, an award-winning, best-selling crime writer, who at the time of the film's release was publicly outed as Juliet Hulme, one of the murderers. A new light was now cast, not only on Anne's life, but also her novels, which feature gruesome and violent deaths, and confronting, dark issues including infanticide and incest.

Acclaimed literary biographer Joanne Drayton intersperses the story of Anne's life with an examination of her writing, drawing parallels between Anne's own experiences and her characters and storylines. Anne's books deal with miscarriages of justice, family secrets exposed, punishment, redemption, and forgiveness, themes made all the more poignant in light of her past. Anne has sold 25 million books worldwide and published in 15 different languages, yet she will now forever be known as a murderer who became a writer of murder stories. Drayton was been given unparalleled access to Anne, her friends, relatives, colleagues, and archives to complete the book. The result is a compelling listen which provides an understanding of the girl Anne was, the adult she became, her compulsion to write, and her view of the world.

©2012, 2014 Joanne Drayton (P)2014 Audible Inc.

The last 1/3 is the best

I’m a true crime buff. The murder of Honorah Parker by her teenage daughter Pauline and the girl’s best friend Juliet Hulme caught my eye in the mid 1990s with the movie HEAVENLY CREATURES. When I discovered Juliet was now best selling mystery writer Anne Perry, I was even more intrigued. Since then I’ve read everything I could about the murders and what became of the teens. THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY is the most interesting, if you’re patient enough to sift through all the boring parts of the biography.

Joanne Drayton’s introduction left me hopeful THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY would read more like a memoir than a textbook. Unfortunately Drayton chose to tell the story through the Perry’s books and characters. If I was an Anne Perry fan, I would have enjoyed THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY more. I tried to like the writer but found her work overly descriptive for the type of mystery/thriller I enjoy. Since Perry has written over fifty books, you can imagine how arduous. The last third of the book detailing the murder and trial as well as Perry’s current life was much more interesting.

Dayton did her homework with pages of sources and footnotes. She found some info about Pauline, now Hillary Nathan, although Hillary wouldn’t speak to her.

Some thoughts on the trial:

Defense psychiatrists tried to show the girls were insane siting a rare delusional condition called folie a deux, which was what I surmised after watching HEAVENLY CREATURES, before reading any of the books. Folie a deux is a shared psychosis, where two or more close individuals experience the same beliefs/delusions. As individuals, they aren’t necessarily psychotic (though they may be) but the symbiotic relationship between the individuals creates the condition.

Forensic psychology, in its infancy when the murders took place in 1954, bears no resemblance to what we do today. The prosecution and defense argued insane vs bad. The prosecutor’s “evidence” included homosexuality (which both girls denied), fantasy play, (which was unchristian) which the defense saw as evidence of mental illness.

Whether or not the girls were lesbians is material only because of the era when homosexuality was considered a mental illness and also judged as perverse. PARKER AND HULME: A LESBIAN VIEW explores the issue of their sexual orientations in depth. My opinion of that book was that the writers set out to prove lesbianism as opposed to investigate the possibility. That book was published in 1995, when more people were in that out of the closet and LGBT folks had no rights, so the exploration of Parker and Hulme’s orientations were now newsworthy than they’d be.

After their release from prison, Perry and Nathan led remarkable similar lives, except for Perry’s writing career. Both women became deeply religious. Neither has committed another crime or act of violence. They lived somewhat isolated lives, Hillary is almost reclusive. Hillary has never spoken publicly about her mother’s murder, Anne was forced because she was discovered by reporters.

THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY mentioned Anne’s anxiety after being discovered. When on press tours, interviewers were more interest in her own story and she began to panic before scheduled meetings. In my own relentless pursuit to reading everything, I never stopped to think about the cost to Anne before reading THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY. I’m torn between curiosity and guilt for wanting to know more.

I skimmed through parts of THE SEARCH FOR ANNE PERRY as if I was on a treasure hunt looking for gems about the murders and Anne’s life. I do recommend this biography as the best of a very boring bunch.

Poignant story about a gifted lady.

Well-written story of one of my favorite mystery authors. I enjoyed the background info of her Pitt and Monk books. Her life story came as a complete shock to me and the honesty and accountability she has exhibited is impressive. Redemption is a wonderful gift and we need to be more generous in extending it to one another.

Penetrating, Revealing, ... Human

A must-read in order to understand and appreciate Perry as the person she truly is.

Thank You Joanne Drayton!

What did you love best about The Search for Anne Perry?

Joanne Drayton has woven an amazing story of not only the life of Anne Perry but also given a history of her search for who she was and who she would become. The empathy she shows in her writing draws you in and makes you want to understand a very complex situation. Much like Anne Perry herself she does not try to excuse what happened but helps inform the reader of the entire story. Her ability to not only tell main story but also weave in the stories that Anne Perry has written through out her carrier seamlessly is a true talent that I have not seen in a very long time.

No real answers.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I couldn't finish it. To much info of her books and her after prison, but not much about the crime.

What could Joanne Drayton have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

It should be shorter and more about the crime.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She didn't.

What character would you cut from The Search for Anne Perry?

I couldn't read far enough to know.

Horrible, Atrocious, Unbearable

Alternates between very brief mentions of how much she gets for a book and huge, unbearable, detailed discussion about the plot of every book. Every. Book.

I hated it

I got this book whenI 1st god audbilde cancelled the supsitron never listend to this book again.
I really hated it I.

-ps: no hate to The Aurthors itst not my cup and tea

BORING beyond all description.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Nothing could have helped this train wreck.

Thanks to poor writing and an worse reader, I now know more about the inner workings of the Mormon Church and various book publishers.
I understand that the subject of the book is/was a Mormon, but the author seems to be pushing the Mormon agenda.



Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Susannah Tyrrell?
Even the talents of Mr. Scott Brick couldn't have saved this train wreck

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
None that I could find.

Any additional comments?
Save your credit.

One Ticket to Dullsville

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Search for Anne Perry?

All the detailed recounting of Anne Perry's writing.

Any additional comments?

Boring, boring, boring! Other than this woman killing her friend's mother, there was no more story to be written.

The Search for Anne Perry

What disappointed you about The Search for Anne Perry?

The narrative was scattered with little continuity. It jumped from topic to topic without connection the information from before with the information being presented.

Has The Search for Anne Perry turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not a all. I am interested in biographies of writers.

What didn’t you like about Susannah Tyrrell’s performance?

The narrator must have been reading from a teleprompter, very flat monotone. Would not recommend this book to anyone even though I am an Anne Perry fan and would be interested to know her back story.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was disappointed because I expected to learn about Anne's childhood, the trial, and the teen years.

Any additional comments?

I will look into other sources for the information that I expected from this book.