The Mushroom Murders: A family lunch. Three deaths. What really happened?

by Greg Haddrick

The shocking story of a weekend lunch laced with a highly toxic mushroom, and a triple murder trial that gripped the world, shattered a family and gave a mother a life sentence.

On 29 July 2023, Erin Patterson hosted a family lunch at her home in the small regional Victorian town of Leongatha. She had invited her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband Ian.

Erin made beef Wellington for her guests, individual beef eye fillets covered in mushroom paste, wrapped in pastry. The following day, all four guests were taken to hospital, and Heather, Gail and Don died. Ian Wilkinson barely survived. A toxicologist found traces of the highly poisonous death cap mushroom in the remains of the meal.

At first, it appeared to be a dreadful accident. As the police investigation continued, the evidence mounted, seeming to point one way. Yet Erin Patterson spun a web of lies, and steadfastly claimed she did not intend to harm her relatives.

Greg Haddrick tells the fascinating inside story of the dramatic murder trial, and the forensic evidence that convinced the jury to convict a suburban mother of a gruesome triple murder. With many details not previously revealed in the media, it is the compelling story of a troubled family, and the world's most poisonous mushroom, which is readily found in parks and gardens.

Praise for Greg Haddrick's In the Dead of Night:

'No one tells a true crime story better than Haddrick.' - John Silvester

'As addictive as the best crime thrillers.' - Matthew Condon

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2025

Reviews

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This true-crime case that occurred in Australia was well-publicized in North American news reports. This was a unique crime with a woman suspected of killing several relatives by serving them a meal containing poison mushrooms. There was a lack of evidence reported and little written here about the court deliberations.
I was hoping to learn details in a factual true-crime report. I thought this got off on the wrong track by inserting the thoughts of a fictional jury member into the account, and had hoped for a true report of just the facts. A disappointment.

[Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure taking creative license with the point-of-view was entirely necessary for such a sensational case, where the facts are already stranger than fiction. It blurred the line between fact and fiction a bit too much for me, though I'll admit it indulges all of our “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” speculations.

My full review of The Mushroom Murders is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

[Tooter · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

[Karen Bartlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH. MY. GOD.
Greg Haddrick has written this account of the now infamous 'Mushroom Murders" from the point of view of an imagined female juror, sifting through the evidence during Erin Patterson's trial.
Although there were times I found this imagined juror a little annoying, it generally worked pretty well to make the complexities of a trial such as this quite readable.
Most of us are well aware of the story, but reading about the evidence as it was uncovered and presented to the court was quite fascinating. What was equally as fascinating were the last few chapters, where details of the dropped charges against Erin were presented - I found this absolutely astounding - no spoilers, but... WOW!!
If you've followed along and been as fascinated with this case as I have you need to read this one!!
Fantastic!

[Bernadette]

DNFed at 40%. Nope, I can’t take the narrative device of the fictitious female juror anymore, it’s so unnecessary. It’s confusing the way it keeps jumping around, and when the narrator inserts details about their own life and thoughts which I have to keep reminding myself are fake. Also, it’s giving woman written by a man. The last straw, after sexualising the informant, was the following comment about the sole survivor of the lunch, Ian Wilkinson: “In the witness box, he was polite, sincere, gentle and tolerant. A good man. A humble man. Didn’t get my juices flowing, let’s not get too carried away - but he was a decent bloke.” The man was a victim of an attempted murder where three of his family members were killed, including his wife, have some respect!

[Jessica Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

the author did a really good job with this book. it's in the pov of a fictitious juror but goes through the entire trial. i learnt so much i didn't know. i definitely recommend checking this one out especially if you're interested in the case.

rip to Gail, Heather and Don. 🩷🩷🩷

[Jodie Esler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author can do better than this but in his attempt to be the first to release a book on this case, he invented an imaginary juror to be the narrator. The book would have been much improved if he had just stuck to the story in a factual way.

[True Crime Bookcase · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Considering the lunch at 84 Gibson Street, Leongatha on 29 July 2023, has become the most talked-about meal since the Last Supper, surprisingly little is known about what was actually said at it.” – Greg Haddrick

On 29 July 2023, Erin Patterson hosted a family lunch at her Leongatha home, serving beef Wellington made with a deadly death cap mushroom paste. Her four guests, Don and Gail Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill; three died, and Ian narrowly survived. What first appeared to be a tragic accident quickly turned into a gripping investigation and trial, as evidence pointed toward deliberate poisoning.

Those who know me know I’m not a big fan of the creative method when it comes to true crime. I like my facts straight, not wrapped in fiction. So when I opened Greg Haddrick’s book The Mushroom Murders and read that it was told through the voice of a fictional juror, I braced myself for disappointment.

To my surprise, I actually enjoyed it.

Haddrick takes an unusual approach, narrating the story as if he were part of the jury. While I found this method a little lazy (it meant he didn’t have to dig deeper or interview anyone), it works in its own clever way. He focuses purely on the trial, allowing readers to experience the case as it unfolded, questions and all.

Having attended the trial myself, this book hit differently. It felt personal. Like I was reliving those tense courtroom moments. I could almost hear the witnesses again and feel the mood shift with every testimony.

And surprisingly, I laughed more than I expected. Greg’s dry humour and sharp observations add a touch of humanity to an otherwise dark story.

While I wish he’d spent a few days in court himself to add more depth and atmosphere, The Mushroom Murders is still a well-crafted, easy read. More a courtroom recap than an investigative dive, but a solid one at that.

👨‍⚖️ Verdict: Even with my criticisms, I’d still recommend it, especially if you followed the case or love courtroom-style storytelling.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the mushroom daily podcast and was extremely captivated by it and the detail it went into of how the trial was run. When I saw there was a book, I was super interested to see how that compared.
Conclusion, thought it was a great, yet horrific insight into what Gail, Don, Heather and Ian went through. Really enjoyed how it was written from the point of view of a fictional juror!

[Tamsin Ramone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that writing this book from the POV of the juror was a novel idea but in essence I didn’t love it. So the facts were well laid out and it was interesting to see exactly how Erin and others spoke in court.

[TJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the previous Greg Haddrick book, but this was a little odd. Still had good details about the case, but the choice to write from a fictional juror’s point of view was strange. Especially with some of the commentary from the fictional juror… such a weird choice.

[Lyndal Bass · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fantastic read! very well written, engaging and compulsive! there were a few cringey moments where the author writes from the female perspective and utterly fails, but otherwise, a wonderful book.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

What utter garbage.

Pushing out the first book in a hypothetical juror scenario. Don’t even bother reading this hogwash.

[Charisma Macchia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you scrolling through reviews to decide on whether to read this, let a Mushroom Murders obsessed follower give you a little overview on whether this is a worthy read or not.
The author creatively narrates the story from a fictions juror’s view. I found this rather clever and almost a double entendre… sharing the focus of how Ms Patterson was convicted but also how all those who watched on, read articles, listened to any information on the case, victims, accused and evidence being shared well before and well into the court case, were also acting as a juror, determining Ms Patterson’s guilt.
Maybe the author didn’t intend that suggestion in his delivery, but with the narrator’s thoughts often drifting to information outside of court presented evidence, I did feel that he was talking to all of us following the case closely.

If you have been avidly following the case, and the court proceedings I feel you may be a little like me , questioning what about this or that? There are definitely some key occurrences and evidence parts missing or given less drama than possibly I would feel important.
However the key reasons to how the jury come to the conclusion are well covered.
I would recommend this read for anyone who just wants to know the main aspects of the case, and how it all unfolded.
If you are looking for a thorough account with every fine detail this may leave you a little disappointed.
Personally I found it enjoyable but did leave me asking questions to how the prosecutor or defence let certain things fly.
My biggest question : who wears white pants when they have diarrhoea??! This is never mentioned.

[Eden Skye · Rating 1 out of 5]

WHO was this book for???


I heard about this book a month before release and presaved it.

I, like the rest of Australia followed the trial closely.
I, like the rest of Australia pretty much know the case inside an out from the plethora of material already published.

So when I heard a book was written from a fictional jurors perspective I was excited to read a fresh angle about a trial close to my heart.

This Book was so disappointing. Just another retelling of facts already covered hundreds of times by other podcasts who did it alot better.

There is almost nothing about the character... There is a smattering of the characters thoughts about which witness she would or would not sleep with..

The book isn't even written from the first person daily perspective.. just like an overview like a police brief.

To top it all off, IT DOESNT EVEN COVER THE DYNAMICS OF THE JURY ROOM.

That's right, a book that claims to be written from a fictional jurors perspective couldn't even be bothered to write a single fictionalized chapter of what might have been said and raised in their over a week long deliberation.

From the end of the trial to the end of the book I checked audible to see how long this period was, 20 minutes. Not a single moment of those 20 minutes was spent discussing what happened In deliberation.

I ask again, other than a shameless cash grab tacked on to a overfull bandwagon, WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? What an absolute waste of my audible credit and time.

I thought i was done but I'm not.

The writer makes a few petty remarks about the saturation of content regarding this case.. which is find incredibly ironic as I was listening to the prime example at that very moment.

The writer also takes aim a few times about how outdated the antiquated jury system is... which I also found ironic considering this book spent 90 percent of the time forgetting this was supposed to be the perspective of a juror not an journalist.

I just simply can not overstate how much of a token effort the hook of 'The fictionalized perspective of a juror' is.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished reading Greg Haddrick's The Mushroom Murders and he takes an unusual position, that of a fictitious juror, a female picture framer from Morwell. I guess he knew that others were tackling the case to write books and he wanted a point of difference.
I wasn't sure that taking such creative licence was entirely necessary, but as I got into it I found it useful in the sense that it showed what the jurors knew (and things they knew but were told to forget) at each point in time. He managed to stir up my biggest pet hate in courtroom matters: the facts that are withheld from the jurors. I could perhaps forgive the judge in his decision to ban consideration of the three attempted murder charges that were dropped just before trial, alleging that Erin Patterson thrice tried to murder her husband. But to ban the jury's knowledge that Erin went to the tip immediately after her lunch guests left, even though her own bins were virtually empty, defies explanation. Sure they couldn't prove what she'd dumped (though likely it was the plates from the meal which were never discovered by police in their searches). But surely that is up to the jury to work out, not for the judge to hide as she falsely claimed to have been at home then, gorging on leftover cake from the lunch. The judge, the prosecution team and the defence team all knew that this was bullshit, but were not allowed to say. There was CCTV vision available that the jury never got to see and as a result she may have got away with triple murder. Our juries would do so much better at coming to the right conclusions with the law just trusting them with the facts.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Props to Haddrick for his interesting approach to this book - it’s clear that by writing it from the perspective of a fictional juror learning things in real time he was able to get it written and published faster than anyone else, and it ended up being a great approach.

The style also works to reinforce the importance of juries and why they exist - yes there’s definitely issues in the modern context, but they work and are necessary for a reason.

Since I hadn’t super-closely followed the whole shebang, it was interesting to get through the whole chain of events in that bit more detail. It doesn’t change the fact that three good, honest people were targeted and died at the hands of a woman who evidently was only in it for herself. In the trial and the book her children were “kept out of it,” but the poor people will be paying for the sins of their mother for the rest of their life.

While I’m here - it was interesting to note that Erin had “hundreds of books.” Don and Ian had been perusing her bookcases ahead of sitting down to lunch. In which case, given the age she is and being Australian, she must almost certainly have Bryce Courtenays on her shelves. I can’t help but wonder, having only days ago read a story in his book, The Family Frying Pan, about a woman taking revenge on her abusive husband using deathcap mushrooms in some interesting detail, whether maybe that sowed a bit of a seed for Erin? How I’d love to go and inspect her book collection.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The shocking story of a weekend lunch laced with a highly toxic mushroom, and a triple murder trial that gripped the world, shattered a family and gave a mother a life sentence.

In 2023, Erin Patterson hosted a family lunch at her home in the small regional Victorian town of Leongatha. She had invited her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband Ian. She had also invited her estranged husband, Simon, who declined. They had been separated for some time and were not on good terms. She made beef wellington and the following day, all of her guests were quite sick. Erin herself claimed to have similar symptoms. Heather, Gail and Don died. Ian just managed to pull through. Toxicology results revealed traces of the highly poisonous death cap mushroom in the remains of the meal.
What initially appeared to be a dreadful accident, turned into a homicide investigation.

I rarely read or listen to true crime but I had absorbed so much of this case through the media here and as terrifying as it is, I knew I had to read this one. For those of you familiar with this case, I would say the book covers a lot of facts that I'd not seen in the media and the style in which it was told was so unique. Such a tragic case and I feel for all of the families involved.

Thank you to the team at Allen and Unwin for this gifted review copy.

[Barbara Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Greg Haddrick used an interesting technique to tell a story that we’re very familiar with - the murder by Erin Patterson of three family members by poisoning with death-cap mushrooms. The book is written as a recount of the trial seen through the eyes of a fictional juror.

Initially I found the juror voice a little annoying. However as I got into the book I really enjoyed the story telling and the different perspective that a juror might bring. Even though I knew the outcome of the trial, the events are written with a tension that is addictive. I binge read the second half of the book.

There are a lot of details included in this recount of the crime that are beyond the bare bones you can read in newspapers or hear on the radio. And the more of these details you read, the more fascinating this crime becomes. And even at the end you are left wondering - not about guilt or innocence, but about motive and the nature of evil.

This is Greg Haddrick’s second book. I loved the first, “In the Dead of the Night” about murders committed by a Jetstar captain; and now I’m looking forward to the third.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful analysis of a recent Australian trial, The Mushroom Murders (2025) by Greg Haddrick, is a nonfiction book. Interestingly, Greg reports the trial evidence in the guise of one of the jurors determining the woman’s verdict. It begins with Justice Beal’s instruction that the verdict can only be drawn from evidence presented and there is no need to establish motive, only intention to murder. The details reported at the time are clearly laid out as the juror acknowledges the presumption of innocence and her feelings: it was most likely an accident. The unanimous verdict reached after the eleven-week trial is well-known; however, the epilogue provides additional evidence that was not admissible but is nonetheless, most illuminating. A truly enjoyable read and engaging narrative that covers the evidence and makes for a five star rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.

[Catherine Hoskins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am from the USA. When I travel I try and find local bookshops and then take book recommendations. The salesgirl was surprised that I had no idea about any of these news events. We have our own crazy murders. My perspective will then probably be the only person reading it totally blind. I found it fascinating. I am an attorney and a backyard mycologist. The fascinating way the doctors figured out the poisoning and the police gathered evidence. It was also interesting to read from a perspective of how jury trials are the same and different. It was a very easy read. Told from the perspective as a juror. Book had a nice flow. I liked the information at the end about what the three attempted murder charges were. I would recommend the book with hopefully some of the proceeds going to the families and kids.

[SHR · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an quick read, with the facts of the case covered off. The book was presented as if it was the thoughts of an imaginary juror, which was interesting as it allowed consideration of questions in the ;public areas during the trial, highlighted what evidence was not presented during the trial. It also allowed examination of evidnce through the lens of "guilty Erin" and "innocent Erin", which was an effective frame. The use of the fictional juror was also a bit offputting for me because I didn't appreciate the representation of the female juror, in particular the sexualisation of the informant and a witness. Two lines stuck out as unnecessary and disrespectful for me - "He could slip his shoes under my bed anytime" and "Didn’t get my juices flowing, let’s not get carried away-but he was a decent bloke.”

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of a recent triple murder that dominated the Australian media. It helped me to understand the actual trial. It was narrated by a fictional jury member (Haddrick had no contact with the actual jurors). An interesting technique, but I am unsure of why he wrote as a woman. Of one key witness he wrote, “Didn’t get my juices flowing, let’s not get carried away-but he was a decent bloke” (p113). I thought this was quite disrespectful, and I confess this book was nearly DNF. But curiosity killed the cat! I will read the book co-authored by Helen Garner when it is published, and compare.

[Bianca Rose (Belladonnabooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the Mushroom Murders such a fascinating read! It’s a case that drew so much publicity here in Australia following a woman being accused of murdering her estranged husband’s family through poisoning. They all ate beef Wellington laced with death cap mushroom yet somehow Erin was fine and all other guests became violently ill, resulting in 3/4 dying. 🍄‍🟫🤔

There’s so many interesting tidbits of information included in here that you don’t see mentioned in mainstream media.

I’m not a huge true crime reader but I lapped this one up! The way Greg tells the story makes it incredibly engrossing and vivid in detail.

Think you Allen and Unwin for my review copy!

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the headlines surrounding the ‘mushroom murder’ scandal, I thought that this case was so intriguing that I had to find out more. So, I decided to get this book. Greg Haddick gives us insight throughout his book about everything that happened leading up to the disastrous family lunch, as well as the aftermath. It takes us through events that eventually lead to the conviction, despite Erin’s pleas of innocence.

[Keena Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear logical interesting explanations and easy to read

I particularly liked hearng the case on chronological order. At the trial the information often didn't make sense and was totally out of order.
Eg I didn't realise she gave the kids leftovers on Sunday night after she'd been supposedly suffering diarrhoea all day. I thought that happened on the Saturday night.
I appreciated the explanation of points of law and found it a fascinating accurate read.

[Simone Kilby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A five star story, does not make this a five star read. The premise of working through the material chronologically - and from a juror’s perspective - had promise, but the unnecessary internal monologues meant left the execution wanting. It’s still an interesting read and its layout is helpful to understanding the complex case against Erin Patterson, but I think the book would have read better without the personal asides.

[Racheal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book as I thought it would be a good factual account of the case.
It was. With information (thankfully) presented in a clear chronological order.
But … Mr Haddrick did take a license in presenting his view as if he were a female juror on the case. I did not appreciate this aspect of the writing and it detracted from the story.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating retelling of such a well known true crime story that still manages to surprise and intrigue. I really enjoyed the unique approach of having the full story from a juror’s perspective, especially when it’s done this well. I can and do wholeheartedly recommend

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

After absolutely loving In the Dead of Night I've been very keen to read this next one. Did not disappoint at all for me, I've been staying up way too late unable to stop reading. Am very impressed with the caliber considering the speed at which this was released. Another killer!