This is an interesting case, though. Strangely enough, the hostess did not get sick. Her children did not either but they apparently ate different food.
And incidentally, although the hostess is separated from her husband, the affected guests just happened to be her in-laws and her mother-in-law’s sister and husband which is why a homicide investigation has been started. The police say to make no assumptions. This may indeed be a terrible tragic accident.
Although it is also unfortunate that the husband was hospitalized in May for severe stomach issues requiring three weeks in ICU. But I probably watch too much Dateline and have read too many Agatha Christie books.
You might find The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers an interesting read.
The social-media supersleuths here in Aus are having an absolute FIELD DAY (pun intended) with this case.
It seems the hostess’s parents both died within a short time of each other a couple of years or so ago (leaving her a sizeable inheritance) then her ex husband (as mentioned above) was hospitalised with extreme gastric issues. Curiously, he too was invited to the dinner party where the victims succumbed to the deadly fungi, but for whatever reason, declined the invite.
And reporting today is that the hostess bought the mushrooms at a local supermarket??!!
It’s going to be an interesting few days or weeks until the tox and autopsy reports come back!
I have linked to this article in the Atlantic years ago, but it bears repeating. The Amanita phalloides does not belong to North America nor Australia, but is spreading there, probably transplanted together with some ornamental trees from Europe, and looks like other edible mushrooms that do belong there. It also seems to be easily confused with a mushroom that grows in India and the Himalaya all the way to Turkey, so that migrants and refugees from there collect it believing it is the edible species they know.
Any mushroom with a volva, a ring or skirt, and gills, greenish or pale cream/yellow cap can be deadly toxic. And sometimes the volva or the ring fall off and cannot be seen. For those who wonder what a volva etc. is, here is a schematic drawing of the anatomy of mushrooms.
This is an unusual case. A woman cooks and served food to her estranged husband and his parents who all die, while she remains alive. I think that woman killed those people by hitting them on the head with a frozen leg of lamb and then cooked that lamb in a mushroom sauce.
The husband was ill earlier in the year, and was a no-show for the ‘dinner party’ that killed the inlaws. He, and I’m guessing thanking his lucky stars, is still alive and somewhat kicking.
No salmon mousse was served, apparently.
She ought to at least serve dinner to the investigators.
