The Real-Life Miss Marple

After 24 Years As A Detective, Julia Hartley Moore Can Sniff Out A Cheating Husband Or An Unruly Teen In Minutes

- Emma Levett

From husbands who’ve brainwashed their wives to ordinary teenagers prepared to do the unthinkable for designer clothes, Julia Hartley Moore says she has seen the best and worst of humanity in her job as a private investigator.

Even her own life story is worthy of a Hollywood movie, with the now 65-year-old mum of three falling into the murky world of detective work by accident.

“I was 39 and working in the perfumery at Harrods in London,” she tells New Idea. “There was a big staff theft scandal going on and when I got friendly with security they asked me to go undercover for them.”

She helped them unlock the secrets of a massive operation and when she left her job, a police officer told her she had the makings of a great detective.

“When I came home to New Zealand, I watched an Oprah show about turning your passion into a business and I just did it,” she smiles. “I was the first female private investigator and I didn’t even have a police background. Everyone said I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I did!”

Twenty-four years on and Julia is still doing what she loves – being a real life Miss Marple!

“I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman and a mum, but I get a lot of the domestic cases – the infidelity and the kids,” she says.

And by kids she means the increase in parents calling her to trail their teenage children and find out what they’re up to.