This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readableEvery reader of The Mushroom Tapes will open the book knowing that Erin Patterson was found guilty in July of murdering three people – her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson – and of the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. They will also know she was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years, and is now appealing against her conviction. Who among us hasn’t been roped into speculation about this family tragedy, the carcass of which has been picked over by pundits, amateurs and experts for years now?Over 11 long weeks, the baroque details of the trial of Erin Patterson were made immediately available to a ravenous public – including sightings of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, three of Australia’s most celebrated nonfiction writers, in ...