Shaykitteh's World of Books

When I was in High School, I rented the movie Heavenly Creatures from my local library. After watching the story of two girls turned murderous over their obsession with each other, I discovered that a mystery I had recently read was actually written by one of the girls: Anne Perry, previously Juliet Hulme. I never read one of her books again, only recently realizing after someone posted similar feelings that my feelings for the books were colored by the author's history.

Approximately twenty years after seeing the movie, I picked up this book. Now, looking at the history of the book, it was originally published under the title So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme and the Murder That Shocked the World. I would have honestly preferred that title to stay, because the current title (Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century) is misleading. Yes, we know more about Anne Perry (Juliet Hulme) now than we do about who Pauline Parker has become, but the majority of the first half of the book is written from the insights of Pauline's diary. I also can't view this as the "murder of the century" - yes, it was horrible and shocking, but "The" murder? No.

It was difficult to get past the first half of the book. While you actually read about the murder itself in Chapter Two, the remainder of the first half goes into too much details about everyone even remotely connected to Juliet & Pauline. I found myself wanting to skim through sections but kept reading to make sure I didn't miss anything. Chapters Three through Twenty drag, giving you the life story and career history of family members, friends, lawyers, teachers, trying the story together with descriptions from Pauline's diary. The author could have easily subtracted at least five chapters and condensed the information to provide a more clear and concise view of the people affected by the murder.

Chapter Twenty-One is where the story gets interesting, bringing us to the trial itself  Once the trial has concluded, the story then moves on to their time in prison before being released five years later. From that point on, we learn a lot about Anne Perry, carefully choreographed by her publishing company and herself to put the majority of the blame on Pauline. Anne Perry, at least as told in this book, does not seem to show any actual remorse for her actions, and portrays herself as an accessory to murder instead of an active planner and participant. Maybe over the years she had painted a better picture of her past and lives within her fiction... who knows?

Pauline Parker, now Hilary Nathan, hides from the public and therefore less is known about her. Her own actions since her release seem to show someone who regrets her past deeply, however. The author touches on her interactions with others, especially after her identity was discovered in the mid 90s, and you can almost sense the sympathy felt for her, thrown into the limelight while still hiding from her past.

Overall, I have to give this book 3 1/2 stars, mostly due to the interesting latter half of the story that helps combat the boring beginning. The author does a good job at giving the facts of the murder and the events leading up to it, supported by first-hand recollections and notes. You do get a feeling, however, that he is not as enthralled with Anne Perry as she is with herself, but I can't blame him due to her efforts in making herself seem to be a victim instead of a murderer. Out of all of the books and stories regarding Hulme and Parker, this is probably the best researched and written.

Yes, they were teenagers. But they knew right from wrong, good from bad, and they murdered anyway.

*Library copy*