I was living in an inner-city suburb when I got pregnant with my first baby. I had a full-time job and wrote books for kids on the weekends. I had a busy life but didn't know any of my neighbours.

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On maternity leave I was at home by myself with my baby every weekday. I had feared being lonely and bored, and sometimes I was.

But overall, having a baby made me much more connected to the community where I lived. I was lucky that my baby liked sleeping in the pram, so I would walk around until he fell asleep and then read a book in a cafe.

Along my travels people would say hello and have a chat; something that rarely happened before I had kids.

Within a few months I went from knowing no one in my suburb to saying hello to multiple people every time I went down the street.

Café workers, librarians, friends from mothers' group and random locals all became familiar and friendly faces.

Celebrated Australian artist Mirka Mora lived in my suburb. She would always tell me my baby was beautiful and I was doing so well with him. I was flattered and felt very special.

Then I found out that Mirka Mora said this to all the parents. She just loved babies and liked to make parents feel good about themselves. We were all special!

I was particularly lucky to have a great parents' group. We were a big group of a dozen mothers and babies. This presented a problem because after the allotted six sessions hosted at the maternal child health centre, we had to find somewhere else to meet.

We all lived in apartments or very small inner-city houses and no-one had space for 24 guests on a Tuesday afternoon. The weather was often inappropriate for the park, and our babies were too young to enjoy a playground anyway.

Most cafes in the area didn't have room for a big group with all our prams and paraphernalia. In desperation, we once met at a pub. I remember putting down muslin squares on the sticky carpet for the babies to lie on while we had morning coffees, surrounded by the fuggy smell of old beer.

Apart from knowing more people in my neighbourhood, I also found myself observing unusual events.

Once when I was up breastfeeding in the middle of the night, I watched police search the house opposite after a break-in. The intruders were gone and I watched the police shining torches in the alleyway, looking for clues. I was tired, but it was very diverting.

Another day I was out for walk with the pram when I saw a small fire beside a neighbour's house. I stayed with her while the fire brigade came. Later that evening my partner and I had a lot of fun discussing who might have lit the fire. If I'd been at work, I would have missed the whole thing.

This sense of noticing events and people gave me the idea of a new mother becoming an amateur sleuth. After all, if we'd discovered a body during a mothers' group meet-up at the pub, we might have teamed up to try to find the killer. We would have at least talked about it a lot.

My novel What Rhymes with Murder? is about a new mother named Frida who starts investigating a crime after a dead body is found at the library during "baby rhyme time".

The story is inspired by my experiences of becoming a mother, even though I didn't investigate any murders.

What Rhymes with Murder? isn't just about finding a killer. It's also about Frida finding community and purpose after having a baby. I was extremely fortunate when I had my first baby and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed becoming a mother.

I had heard it was the hardest job in the world and that isn't wrong, but due to a confluence of protective factors I also found it very rewarding and often enjoyable.

So, I was shocked and surprised when I had a second baby and instead of experiencing another blissful period of neighbourhood walking and friend-making I was almost overwhelmed by a sense of despair and darkness that I hope I never return to.

I was diagnosed with post-natal depression. Instead of going to mother's group I went to what I described as "sad mum's club". Before the first session I told my partner I was "doing too well" and didn't really need to go.

But when it was my turn to introduce myself to the group, I simply sobbed. I did need to be there. And I did get better with help from doctors, a psychologist and family and friends.

In What Rhymes with Murder? Frida has had significant mental health challenges after having her first baby. At the start of the book she is emerging from this and it's through her involvement in crime investigation that she continues her recovery.

It's not a common pathway through post-natal mental health issues but I hope readers can enjoy and relate to Frida's journey.

Penny Tangey is a librarian, mother and former stand-up comedian living in Melbourne. She's published a number of children's books, including As Fast As I Can (2020), which won a Queensland Literary Award and the Readings Children's Book Prize. What Rhymes with Murder? (Summit, $34.99) is her first novel for adults. While the cosy crime mystery is inspired by her experiences of becoming a mother, she insists she did not investigate any murders.

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