What Rhymes with Murder? by Penny Tangey

What Rhymes with Murder? is a cosy mystery set in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is chock full of amateur sleuths with quirky natures who suddenly find their everyday lives are interrupted by a murder.

The main character is a new mother, Frida. She is struggling with a real and terrifying post-natal depression, combined with an anxiety that has made the simple task of walking down the stairs of her apartment block terrifying. With encouragement, Frida decides she has to try and venture outside at least once every day. Going to a session of Baby Rhyme Time at her local library is the first step toward fulfilling this challenge.

Once there, Frida meets an eclectic group of parents who all enjoy the coffee culture of Melbourne, using the public library and getting out of the house with their babies. Frida’s first Baby Rhyme Time is a great success, that is, until, without warning, a scream rings out, and a woman’s body plummets from an upstairs floor to the ground. Suddenly, Frida finds herself part of a group of amateur detectives, each with their own suspicions and theories as to what happened.

Frida finds her life has taken an exciting new turn as she becomes involved in coffee catchups, gossiping and solving the murder. She starts to meet people she wouldn’t normally meet, like the doctor who works part-time at the Reproductive Health Clinic, the kind young police officer who lives with his sister, and the historian who runs Herstory tours.

Author, Penny Tangly, writes with an enjoyable realism peppered with a natural humour, for example: “Dr Christine gives him a glance so withering that it ricochets off Josh and withers me a bit too.”

In What Rhymes with Murder the author confronts the challenges of anxiety, flashbacks and catastrophising with great care and sensitivity as Frida navigates being a wife and mother to a six-month-old baby.

Reviewer: Carole Brungar

Simon & Schuster