It’s winter, daylight in Maine is limited. There are too many dark hours available to wonder about life, my future, and whether to finally put my police career behind me and commit fully to being a PI. Gordy, my boss at G&Z Investigations, doesn’t give me sunlit hours to think about these things – he wants to clear the docket, get cases closed and have all outstanding bills chased down. Then the news arrives. His good friend, environmentalist Frank Croake, has been murdered. Gordy insists I take the lead on this because he has medical things to take care of.
“What medical things?” I ask.
“Just things.” Gordy’s avoidance strikes fear into my heart; he’s not just my boss, but also my godfather, and the person who stepped into my life when I most needed someone. I don’t want Gordy to have ‘medical things’.
“I got a look-see operation scheduled in seven days, Dee,” he says. “My doc’s not happy not seeing what he can’t see. And I want to know who killed Frank Croake before I check in.”
Frank Croake loved Maine, its coastline, forests, lakes, mountains and quarries. He focused on caring for its future and cleaning up its past – especially the sludge of Forever Chemicals from now-defunct paper mills and manufacturing plants that were dumped on farmland and are in the soil forever unless new techniques are employed. “Dee,” Gordy says, “Check out Cooper, Frank’s son. There’s bad blood there.” Detective Donato and others on the Portland police force prefer I don’t engage in a side investigation, but Gordy doesn’t let up on his druthers.
An unexpected guide (I met him during a purse snatching) falls into my sphere – his name is Nail, and his odd hoarder girlfriend is connected to the Croake case. Nail is raw, annoying, peculiar and a truth-teller. He’s able to open doors that shed new light on Cooper Croake and his father’s death – while badgering me about not facing my worries about Gordy, about the walls I build to keep Detective Donato at arm’s length and reminding me I’ve been physically and psychically challenged and there are obstacles I don’t push through – and it’s time to push through.
Seven days before Gordy is in surgery. Seven days to unearth the truth about the evil that descended on Franke Croake and spread dire effects on his family and supporters. No time to waste.
7 DAYS: A Dee Rommel Mystery, Book 4
Genre: Crime Action Fiction Mystery
Release: March 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
When revenge is all-consuming, where will it end?
Harassment comes in all shapes and sizes and Dee Rommel’s protective streak – particularly when it comes to her mother’s well-being and Dee’s new clients, is triggered. When an avid environmentalist and scion of Portland is murdered, Dee’s boss, private investigator Gordy Greer, puts Dee on the case.
Details and clues seem to work at cross-purposes, land deals worth millions and conservation concerns are at loggerheads and families are at war over who gets crowned the ultimate decision-maker. Dee is thrown in with a diverse cast of harassed suspects and has to step into dangerous territory to defend the weakest among them.
Dee gains new insight, about herself and her loved ones. She has choices to make, and they must be the right choices – for their safety – and hers.
“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
About the author
Jule Selbo, an award-winning screenwriter, moved from Los Angeles to Maine to write novels. 7 DAYS, A Dee Rommel Mystery, is the fourth of a crime/mystery series that follows the Kirkus starred ** 10 DAYS and 9 DAYS and 8 DAYS. Books in the series have been listed on Kirkus’ Top 5 mysteries from Small Publishers, won the Silver Falchion Award, Honorable Mention Foreword Review and received Clue and Maine Lit Award nominations. And she loves to cook.