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Anne Perry was born in Blackheath, London, England. "My schooling was very interrupted, both by frequent moves and by ill-health," writes Perry. "Due partially to this I read a great deal." Her favorites included Lewis Carroll and Charles Kingsley. Although she worked several different jobs, including retail selling, air stewardess, limousine dispatcher in Beverly Hills and insurance underwriter, Perry always wanted to write. She started working on her first book when she was in her early 20s, but she didn't succeed in finding a publisher for her work until she was in her late 30s. "I began writing mysteries set in Victorian London on a suggestion from my stepfather as to who Jack the Ripper might have been. I found that I was totally absorbed by what happens to people under pressure of investigation, how old relationships and trusts are eroded, and new ones formed." The Cater Street Hangman, featuring London policeman Thomas Pitt, came out in 1979; there are now over 20 books in the series. Perry also writes another series about a London policeman in Victorian times; the latest volume to feature William Monk, The Shifting Tide, was published in the spring of 2004. In 2003, she inaugurated a third series set during World War I with No Graves As Yet. She writes, “I began the 'Monk' series in order to explore a different , darker character, and to raise questions about responsibility, particularly that of a person for acts he cannot remember. How much of a person's identity is bound up in memory? All our reactions, decisions, etc spring from what we know, have experienced. We are in so many ways the sum of all we have been.” Anne Perry has won the Edgar Award and has been nominated for the Macavity and Agatha Awards. Related Links |
