The Mushroom Tapes

In July 2023, in the quiet Gippsland town of Leongatha, Erin Patterson—stay-at-home mother and true-crime devotee—invited her husband’s devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by death cap mushrooms.

Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped the nation and fascinated people all over the world.

Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned writers: Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case’s sinister and complex themes: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder.

The Mushroom Tapes is a true-crime book like no other—a unique study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.

PRAISE:

‘Pick up this book and you’ll find it hard to put down.’ The Australian

'Sensitive and insightful.' Age

‘Insightful, humane and self-questioning’ The Times

‘I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s like being in a conversation with your most blisteringly intelligent, imaginative mates.’ Holly Wainright, Mamamia

‘Garner, Hooper and Krasnostein are an acute trio of conversational partners. Their precise, wry observations compel the reader’s attention.’ Guardian

'I was utterly captivated...a dense and deeply engaging weaving of voices, narratives and ideas.’ Conversation

‘An utterly absorbing exploration of how these writers think: questioning, rationalising and reflecting on female criminality, morality and the ethics of storytelling.’ Books+Publishing

‘Allows us to imagine what the mealtime conversations many of us have been having about this case would be like if three of Australia’s best writers were guests.’ Inside Story