Mycology and Murder

 Last week I attended a Sydney Writers' Festival event at Sydney Town Hall called 'The Mushroom Tapes' - authors Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein in conversation with ABC journalist Fran Kelly. The session was to promote the authors' new book, The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder (2025).

The murders in question are the sensational 'Mushroom Murders' in which Erin Patterson served a lethal beef wellington laced wth death cap mushrooms to her in-laws on 29 July 2023. Erin invited Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband Simon, along with Gail's sister Heather and her husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson (Simon's aunt and uncle), to her new home for lunch. Within 24 hours, all four were in hospital with liver failure and all but Ian Wilkinson died in the next few days. By November, Erin was arrested and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder (four of these were for prior attempts at poisoning her husband). Ms Patterson's ten-week trial took place in mid-2025, with the jury convicting her on 7 July 2025. Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years. Erin Patterson is appealing her conviction. 

The case was sensational with media from around the world descending on the tiny town of Morwell in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. These authors are among my favourite writers, and each is known for their courtroom reportage of true crime. If any one of them had chosen to cover this case, it would have been brilliant, but bringing the three of them together was genius.

Instead of doing a podcast, the three chose to record and transcribe their thoughts about the case. As they drive to and from Morwell, about 150 kilometers from their homes in Melbourne, or sit in a local cafe or hotel room, they discuss the day's evidence, the vibe of the town, the court attendees, and their own discomfort with the matter. Written in conversation form, the women endeavour to try to understand this remarkable crime, while also contemplating the public fascination with the murders. 

In the Town Hall session, as in the book, they spoke about why this crime garnered such interest and the long history of women as poisoners. They dissected the ways in which Erin confounded them - presenting herself as a victim, then getting caught in her own web of lies, and becoming belligerent on the stand. They grapple with the ethics of the case, and the horror of what Patterson did. 

I loved the form of this book, and felt as though I was on the journey with them. I particularly appreciated the depiction of the stoic Ian Wilkinson. While I followed the case from afar and knew about the orange plate, the dehydrator, and the true crime Facebook group Erin participated in, The Mushroom Tapes revealed many things I did not know and added to my understanding of this case. What I enjoyed most though was the camaraderie and banter between these three intelligent women as they bear witness and contemplate the complex issues and themes of the case.  

There are plenty of books about this case that have recently been published, including Greg Haddrick's The Mushroom Murders and Duncan McNab's Recipe for Murder. There were also several podcasts and documentaries about the case. I doubt I will engage in these others as I feel The Mushroom Tapes is enough for me.  

About the authors

Readers of this blog know that I adore Helen Garner.  Her coverage of the Farquharson case - in which a father drove his three young sons into a dam - was brilliantly captured in This House of Grief (2014). Likewise her book Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) about a Canberra murder trial is a must read for those interested in true crime. Her novels, like The Spare Room (2008), capture her storytelling and her diaries showcase her humble insights on life.

I have long admired Chloe Hooper as a writer. Her Walkley Award winning coverage of the death of Cameron Doomadgee was captured in her non-fiction account The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008). More recently she investigated the Black Saturday bushfires in The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire (2018). I also enjoyed her debut novel A Child's Book of True Crime (2002), shortlisted for the Orange Prize (which I read long before I began blogging).

Sarah Krasnostein is best known for her award winning book The Trauma Cleaner (2018), the true story of Sandra Pankhurst a transgender woman who, after a lifetime of her own challenges, started her own business as a trauma cleaner - attending to crime scenes and hoarder homes. She also wrote The Believer (2021) about individuals and groups with deep-rooted beliefs in the paranormal or other phenomena. Krasnostein has a PhD in Criminal Law.