Novels
The first three books in the Dee Rommel Mystery Series, now named a finalist for the CIBA Mystery Series Award. 7 DAYS joins these first three in March 2025. The countdown continues!
“In 7 Days, Dee Rommel’s past comes back to haunt her when an eccentric purse thief is found dead, and Dee’s boss’s friend dies under suspicious circumstances. Thus begins an exquisitely multi-layered plot that comes together seamlessly to deliver a spinetingling and startling climax. If you’re missing Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series like I am, you’ll want to read Jule Selbo’s Dee Rommel books—they’re as comforting as they are exciting. I’m a big fan!”—Holly West, author of the Mistress of Fortune mysteries and the Anthony Award-winning editor of Killin’ Time in San Diego
"Smart and highly suspenseful, 8 Days by Jule Selbo pits a group of teenagers against an organized drug gang in the quiet seaside city of Portland, Maine. Private investigator Dee Rommel tries to help a high school immigrant, and instead is caught up in murder. Page after page, the tension rises. Rommel is one of today’s most compelling detectives, and Selbo writes with verve - weaving cops, white hat hackers, shopkeepers, and café goers into a murder mystery extraordinaire. — Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassins
8 DAYS is a mystery lover’s feast: a tough-minded yet compassionate female PI, a vibrantly portrayed Portland backdrop, and an unpredictable investigation roiling with timely social issues. All the while, Jule Selbo never makes a misstep; rock-solid writing and vivid characterization lead the reader down a dark path of exploitation, and deceit.” - Gillian French, author of Sugaring Off and The Lies They Tell
9 Days: A Dee Rommel Mystery #2
9 Days, Book Two of Jule Selbo's Dee Rommel mystery series reads well as a stand-alone novel. Fast-paced with a fantastic, strong-willed, likable main character... a really well-written storyline…I am looking forward to reading the first book in the series - as well as any future books.
Kristi Elizabeth, San Francisco Book Review, September 2022
A likeable sleuth, a perplexing puzzle, and a narrative strewn with eccentric characters and plot twists you won't see coming. A delightful read. Jule Selbo is terrifically talented.
William Bernhardt, author of The Last Chance Lawyer
10 Days: Winner Silver Falchion Award 2021
“Jule Selbo’s 10 Days is a complex, well-constructed mystery that hooked me on Day 1. Dee Rommel, her female protagonist, who takes more life-threatening risks than her male counterparts, is a breath of fresh air. Selbo’s characters, good and bad, are emotionally satisfying, well sketched out, and the pacing of the plot is spot on and full of surprises. The pictures Selbo paints of Maine, rendering it a character in its own right, is worth the price of admission. Jule Selbo’s first foray into mystery writing is a resounding success. Dive into “10 Days” and enjoy the ride.”
John Lansing, best-selling author of The Devil’s Necktie
Find Me in Florence
Finding herself at life’s crossroads, always-dutiful Lyn Bennett jumps at the chance to teach in historic Florence, Italy; it’s an opportunity to unearth the mysterious details of her mother’s past as one of Florence’s revered Mud Angels who helped save the city during the 1966 flood - as well as to re-evaluate the choices she’s made in her life. When her husband betrays her and a best friend falls to the wayside, Lyn is devastated. When handsome and magnetic Matteo strives to help, she has to decide if she will allow the people – and the city of Florence, with its pride, vitality and beauty - inspire her to open her heart again?
Find Me in Florence is published by Panda Moon and available here.
Breaking Barriers
They said, “No!” She asked, “Why?” The answer was always the same: “Because you’re a woman.” She vowed to shatter each barrier they placed in her way. Inquisitive and precocious, Laura Bassi grew up on the Italian Peninsula in the 1700s, dreaming of studying science at the famed University of Bologna. It was the Age of Enlightenment and although forward-thinking philosophical ideas and scientific discoveries flourished, the prevailing edict was that college was no place for a woman—no matter how capable, intelligent, or innovative.
Renouncing the societal norms of the day, Laura never stopped working towards a time when a woman would have the same opportunities as a man, be held to equivalent standards, and realize equal rewards. But first, she had to master Newtonian physics.
Dreams of Discovery
Giovanni Caboto (‘John Cabot’) was born in Genoa, Italy. As a child, he dreamed of captaining a ship across a mysterious, uncharted Ocean - from Europe to the riches of China. There was another boy in Genoa at the same time, with the same dream: Cristofer Colombo.
The Turks, in the 15th century, had a stranglehold on the trade routes to the Far East. Europe’s race to find an alternative passage was heating up. But an explorer needed patrons, funds, ships – and a vision. Whereas Colombo had taken a south and west route from Spain, Caboto was convinced a more northern route from England would lead directly to China.
Cabot remained convinced, even on his death bed, that he’d reached China – not realizing he’d claimed much of the North America for his patron, the King of England, and made an amazing contribution to the fabric of America.
Available in Print, Kindle, Apple iBooks, & Nook formats.
Jule sold her first short stories to Alfred Hitchcock Magazine in the early 1990s. This monthly anthology was created in 1956 and is still going strong today, specializing in crime, mystery and detective fiction.