Murder case features in two award final books

Melanie Lynskey (left) as Pauline Parker and Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures.

One of New Zealand's most famous crimes features in two of the entries for this year's NZ Post Book awards.

The finalists, announced yesterday, were selected from more than 150 entries.

The Parker and Hulme murder case, which inspired Peter Jackson's film Heavenly Creatures, is the subject of one of the finalists in the general non-fiction category.

The book, So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme and the Murder that Shocked the World is a detailed review of the 1954 case.

Author Peter Graham re-examines the murder of Christchurch woman Honore Parker, who was killed by her daughter, Pauline, and her friend Juliet Hulme.

Another finalist, New Zealand Film - An Illustrated History written by Diane Pivac, Frank Stark and Lawrence McDonald, entered in the illustrated non-fiction category, features the Heavenly Creatures film.

The winners for each of the five categories - fiction, poetry, general non-fiction, illustrated non-fiction and the people's choice award - will be announced in August.

Judges said narrowing down the entries was particularly difficult, especially for the fiction and poetry categories, which have three finalists.

"Having all the categories restored to five finalists would more accurately represent the quality and breadth of New Zealand's writing," said judging panel convener Chris Bourke.

ON THE WEB

Voting for the people's choice award opened yesterday at www.nzpostbookaward.co.nz