SIMON & SCHUSTER AUSTRALIA TO PUBLISH A BOOK ON THE MURDER OF MATHEW DUNBAR

Simon & Schuster Australia will publish a work of investigative journalism on the case of Natasha Beth Darcy who was recently convicted of the 2017 murder of her partner Mathew Dunbar. 

The Widow of Walcha is a shocking true story about murder, love and lies in the small NSW town of Walcha.  In 2017 locals were rocked by the mysterious death of a wealthy and much loved sheep farmer, Mathew Dunbar, who signed over his multimillion-dollar property to his new partner, Natasha Darcy, just months after meeting her.
 
Natasha adopted a false name to source animal sedatives and blended them with a cocktail of other drugs in a Nutribullet before gassing him with a party balloon helium canister. Police later uncovered hundreds of Google searches made in the lead-up to Mathew's death, including ‘11 toxic wild plants that look like food’, ‘how to commit murder’ and ‘can police see past web history’.  
 
This extensive and extraordinary account has been written by Emma Partridge who is the Senior Crime Editor at Nine News. Emma has followed this case since Mathew's death, interviewed Natasha just before her arrest and recently covered her two-month trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

Partridge commented, ‘It’s not very often a journalist is welcomed into a small, country town but the people who knew and loved Mathew were happy to talk because they wanted justice and they wanted to see Natasha go down.’

‘Mathew was a quiet and generous soul and it was clear Natasha – who had a long history of committing crimes against men – had taken advantage of his vulnerabilities and exploited the fact he was so desperate to find love and family,’ Partridge said. ‘I wanted to write this book so that people could learn more about who Mathew was but also about the life and crimes of Natasha. Her past is so unbelievably wild… you couldn't make up some of the things she has done.'

The ANZ rights for this title were acquired by Non-Fiction Publisher Emma Nolan from Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown Agency. ‘We were immediately captivated by this story. Emma Partridge has been covering this case since the story first broke in 2017. She has produced an in-depth and engaging book about murder and suspicion in a small country town,’ says Nolan. 

The Widow of Walcha will publish soon.