30 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-03-544093-1
This true-crime book is the story of Australia’s Mushroom Murders in July 2023, where Erin Patterson invited her ex-husband, his parents and his aunt and uncle to lunch. Her ex-husband didn’t go; all four guests were taken to hospital the next day, and within a week, his parents and aunt were dead.
Former police-officer Duncan McNab is now a journalist who followed the investigation and attended the trial, making this book is a vivid and detailed account of a case that made headlines world-wide. It starts with a description of the small town where the lunch took place, Leongatha, 130km from Melbourne, then moves on to other deaths due to mushroom foraging, particularly fatalities from ‘death cap’. That groundwork laid, he introduces us to the family, how Simon Patterson and Erin Scutter met, the development and breakdown of their relationship, Erin’s personal and online activities, and then the sinister episodes of her holidays with Simon, where he suffered from acute gastric attacks – the reason why he didn’t want to come to dinner with her. This suspected poisoning was part of the original charge but, as McNab explains, it wasn’t mentioned during the trial.
From there, McNab moves to the fatal lunch, the preparation of individual portions of Beef Wellington with a mushroom layer under the pastry, the mismatched plates which gave Erin the differently-coloured one, the illness of all four guests, and the agonising deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson. When we move to the trial, the writing is a gripping eye-witness account which is at the same time sensitive to the feelings of the people involved in this awful case. However there’s one big question he can’t answer, and perhaps Erin herself can’t either: why she did this dreadful thing to the beloved grandparents of her young children and their great-aunt and uncle, kindly people with whom she’d apparently had a good relationship.
A thoroughly-researched,
restrained account of a sensational trial, and a really interesting read.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor
 |
Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a
newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's
scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a
qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published
plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's
suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own
8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.
Click on the title
to read a review of her recent book
An
Imposter in Shetland
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