The Matriarch cover art

The Matriarch

The Story of 'Granny Evil' Kathy Pettingill

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Matriarch

By: Adrian Tame
Narrated by: Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Kelly Butler
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

The matriarch of Australia’s most violent and notorious criminal family, and allegedly the inspiration for the award-winning film Animal Kingdom, tells her side of the story.

Kathy Pettingill is a name that’s both respected and feared, not only by Australia’s criminal underworld, but by many in the Victorian police force. As the matriarch at the head of the most notorious and violent family of habitual offenders in Australian criminal history, her life has revolved around murder, drugs, prison, prostitution and bent coppers – and the intrigue and horror that surround such crimes.

Her eldest son, Dennis Allen, was a mass murderer and a $70,000-a-week drug dealer who dismembered a Hell’s Angel with a chainsaw. Two younger sons were acquitted of the Walsh Street murders, the cold-blooded assassination of two police officers that changed the face of crime in Melbourne forever. One of the two, Victor, was gunned down himself in the street 14 years later, becoming the third son Kathy has buried.

In this revised and updated authorised edition of Adrian Tame’s bestselling The Matriarch, Kathy Pettingill reveals the chilling truth behind many of the myths and legends that surround her family, including her experiences in the blood-spattered charnel house at the centre of Dennis Allen’s empire of drugs and violence.

But this is no plea for pity. Forthright and deeply disturbing, like its subject, The Matriarch pulls no punches.

Updated and revised for a new generation, this true crime classic is as terrifying and powerful as when it was first published.
Crime True Crime Women Exciting Murder

Listeners also enjoyed...

Twelve from Hell cover art
The Sting cover art
Suburban True Crime cover art
Murder Machine cover art
Murder by the Sea cover art
Kentucky Bloodbath cover art
BADNESS cover art
The Deadly Dozen: India's Most Notorious Serial Killers cover art
Unsolved Australia cover art
My Girl cover art
Killers Behind Bars cover art
Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter cover art
Salford Lads cover art
The Shepherd's Bush Murders cover art
Scotland’s Wildest Bank Robber cover art
A Special Place in Hell cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Wow what a read, couldn't put it down as for the narrative 👏absolutely spot on 10 /10

Brilliant 👍

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.