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The Mushroom Tapes

Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial – from three of Australia's finest writers, including the winner of the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize

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The Mushroom Tapes

By: Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, Sarah Krasnostein
Narrated by: Andrew Watson, Caroline Craig, Helen Garner Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
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About this listen

 In July 2023, in a quiet Australian country town, 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 Australian 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 uniquely enlightening study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.©2025 Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein Crime Murder Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science True Crime Marriage

Critic reviews

Extremely readable . . . Garner, Hooper and Krasnostein are an acute trio of conversational partners. Their precise, wry observations compel the reader's attention
A riveting true-crime conversation (Mia Levitin)
This is an utterly weird book which captures the fog and confusion of the world it enters, almost as a lark. It is brilliantly organised and the representation of the miasma of the trial is at such variance with so much we have imagined. Pick up this book and you'll find it hard to put down. It will be read around the world as a credible account of one of the strangest cases ever to come before a court. (Peter Craven)
An utterly absorbing exploration of how these writers think: questioning, rationalising and reflecting on female criminality, morality and the ethics of storytelling
I was utterly captivated . . . A dense and deeply engaging weaving of voices, narratives and ideas. A most enticing aspect of reading this book is the opportunity to eavesdrop on three highly intelligent and capable writers
In both their rhythm and register, these intimate conversations recall the forms that mediated Patterson's trial: podcasts, panel discussions, social media threads, group chats (Catriona Menzies-Pike)
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. It's a comfort meal with some exotic ingredients mixed in
Sensitive and insightful
The Mushroom Tapes is clearly a hybrid, with pace and staying power: it benefits from the immediacy the recordings lend and the way the three authors bounce off each other, but has none of the excess detail that can bog down even the best-written account of some cases. (Jason Steger)
The Mushroom Tapes is a podcast on paper. That doesn't sound like something that should work, but it does. In a media ecosystem that is even more glutted with "murdertainment" than Orwell's tabloids were, it is a rare example of true crime that doesn't make you feel scummy for consuming it. More than that, it's insightful, humane and self-questioning about the ethics of its own project. (Sarah Ditum)
For what is ostensibly a true crime analysis (and, let me reassure you, if you're in the market for one, it is that, and a fascinating one), it is also much more in the way that only the very best true crime can be... So many moments that triggered and flickered, sparking synapses in my brain. So many observations that I'm sure will resonate with you. On witch hunts, on why so many women love true crime (hands up), on being an outsider and the need to belong, on female aggression and why society is so scared of it, on the stories we tell ourselves about how life is meant to be, how we cling to them, on marriage as an institution, why one person breaks and another doesn't
Insightful, humane and self-questioning
All stars
Most relevant
I found this fascinating. A good overview of events with excellent analysis, personal reflections and mundane details which really made me think about the case. I loved the structure, it felt as if it was happening in real time and you were privy to the authors’ immediate conversations. The talk about this case will never end since it is so curious. While she was found guilty of murder, so much remains unclear. Did she really intend to kill them rather than just make them ill? The fact that she had apparently poisoned her husband on previous occasions might indicate she was trying to kill him but could equally indicate that she liked to make him ill. Either way, her motive is not known and so speculation about that can run wild. I would be surprised if she did not write a book about it herself but whether she would be a reliable witness is another matter.

A gripping account

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I did enjoy this as I have been following the case. I felt the conversation format sort of worked to set the scene but I felt I was missing some details as the book was fairly short. I'd like to read a longer and very detailed book about the case.

Interesting format, a bit short

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The psychological analysis was useful and added depth to the trial. The authors’ knowledge of other crimes, literature, etc worked to create a fuller picture. Found the multiple voices jarring to begin with though.

Intriguing account

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Three women chatting about a court case. Fascinating case of a poisoned Beef Wellington in Oz. It felt like you were in the courtroom alongside the authors. Very of this century. Gave me podcast vibes. Surprisingly enjoyable.

Unusual format

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I was expecting the writers to dissect the case, but the conversations were more about their own philosophies and experiences. They were quick with complaints, particularly towards other people’s interest in the case/trial (ironic because they were there showing an interest) and the fatigue they felt towards the end of the trial as it went on so long. A relatively interesting short book, with a conversational style which was ok to listen to, but not really much about the actual crime that took place. Felt like they started recording the tapes not sure what to do, they admitted a podcast fell through during the trial, so this was a way to profit from the recordings.

Philosophy on crime rather than a detailed case

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