So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme & the Murder That Shocked the World by Peter Graham is a clever and detailed investigation into a true crime. It is the back story of Mystery writer, Anne Perry.

So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme & the Murder That Shocked the World is Peter Graham’s investigation into the Parker-Hulme murder. On 22 June 1954, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker killed Pauline’s mother in a New Zealand park. Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker were 15-years old. The crime was shocking not only in the fact that it was matricide and the age of the murderers, but also in regards to the brutal and violent nature of the murder. Graham investigates the girls’ childhood, the troubled history of their parents, the crime, their trial, and lives afterward including both in prison and lightly as adults. In honesty, the crime would probably have remained a local crime célèbre if Juliet Hulme did not go on to become the internationally renown author, Anne Perry.

So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme & the Murder That Shocked the World is brutal and graphic. Graham holds little back in describing the crime or the girls behavior. While he offers his own thoughts over the nature of the girls’ relationship — was it a lesbian affair? — ultimately he leaves it up to the reader to decide.  He has much more to say about the psychological state of the girls. He creates a case for a perfect storm of teenage alienation & emotional attachment, class struggle, and internal family stress building into explosive rage & murder. Like Romeo & Juliet, family conflict — internal & external, attempting to rip two teenagers apart, it instead leads to the destruction of two families.

Peter Graham is a retired barrister from Hong Kong. He is the author of Vile Crimes: The Timaru Poisonings. He lives in New Zealand.

So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme & the Murder That Shocked the World by Peter Graham is darkly intriguing book. It is well-researched and worth reading. I recommend it for adults.

© 2013 Su Terry

Su Terry: Education: B.A. in History from Sacred Heart University, M.L.S. in Library Science from Southern Connecticut State College, M.R. S. in Religious Studies/Pastoral Counseling from Fairfield University, M.Div. in Professional Ministry from New Brunswick Theological Seminary. She is a retired librarian from Dowling College, Long Island, NY. She is a literary judge for the Ben Franklin Award.