Julia Hartley Moore is a New Zealand private investigator, author and producer who is the founder of the Auckland-based private investigation firm, Julia Hartley Moore Limited (previously Arbeth & Co Limited). Her firm specialises in infidelity, scam, and child custody cases. She has published several books about her work as a private investigator, including multiple editions of Infidelity: Exploding the Myths.
Julia Hartley Moore is a native of New Zealand. She is a great-granddaughter of the Yorkshire poet John Hartley. Julia is dyslexic (a fact that was not discovered until she was aged 40) and left school at age 14.[1] She had her first child at age 15 and married her first husband when she found out she was pregnant.[1] When she was 16, Hartley Moore gave birth to twins. She met her second husband when she worked as a secretary with the National Party in her 20s.[2]
Hartley Moore has married four times.[3] She is currently married to television producer Steve Butler, who she married in 2009.[1]
Career
In the 1990s when her children were grown, she moved to London where she worked a job at Harrods department store.[4] In this role she helped uncover a staff theft ring.[4] In 1996, Hartley Moore returned to New Zealand and opened her private investigation firm,[4] Julia Hartley Moore Limited (formerly Arbeth & Co Limited). She was the first woman to own a private investigation company in New Zealand.[5] She initially worked fraud cases for an insurance company, but soon began specialising in infidelity cases. She has also worked other types of cases involving scenarios like extortion,[4] missing persons,[6] and employee monitoring (among others).[7] In 2000 she wrote her first book Julia Moore, PI, which was published by Penguin Books.[8] In 2004, she authored Infidelity: Exploding the Myths, which was published by HarperCollins[9] in which she documents her work investigating infidelity cases. Multiple editions of the latter book have since been released, including by Ulysses Press[10] in 2006 and Exisle Publishing[11] in 2011. This was followed up by Suddenly Single, which was published by HarperCollins[12] in 2007.
Hartley Moore is a regular commentator on television and radio, appearing on TVNZ's 1News,[13] TVNZ's current affairs programme Seven Sharp,[14] and has been a panelist on Radio New Zealand's The Panel for over 20 years.[15] In the 1990s she appeared on the television show Private Investigators.[1] She was also a panelist for two series of TVNZ's chat show How's Life?.[16] She has also appeared on Australian television's Channel 7.[7]
In addition to television, Hartley Moore frequently appears in print and online news media publications such as Stuff Ltd[17][18][19] and The New Zealand Herald[1][2] to talk about aspects of her investigative work.
In 2021, Hartley Moore expanded into television production, founding her own production company Blonde Ambition Films Limited. The company’s first project, Polk: The Trial of Philip Polkinghorne, premiered on New Zealand’s Three[20] network in 2025. The documentary investigates the high-profile case of an eye surgeon accused of murdering his wife, exploring the complex legal and emotional dimensions of the trial.
↑ Hartley Moore, Julia (1 January 2000). "Julia Moore P. I. / Julia Moore". Julia Moore P. I. / Julia Moore. | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
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