(This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of the South Baltimore Peninsula Post.)
by Robert Hardy
“Two of my favorite things are cooking and writing,” says South Baltimore novelist Joelle Babula, “and combining those two things is very satisfying.” Babula is at Bodega & Vino in Locust Point discussing her debut novel, Infidelity Rules (Black Rose Writing, 2025), in which local color and culinary detail combine with a spicy plot about relationships, marriage, and commitment.
“Food is inspiring,” she says. “I keep track of new recipes and new dishes at restaurants, and I’ll go home and try to recreate things. And if I don’t get it right, I’ll go back and try it again. I’ve cooked every menu in the book myself at home, multiple times.”
That creative spirit also animates the novel’s main character, Quinn, a successful sommelier making her way in the male-dominated restaurant world, where food and wine are signifiers of power and passion. Romance is the novel’s key ingredient: “Quinn prefers her men the way she likes her food and wine,” according to the publisher’s blurb: “enticing, intoxicating, and utterly delectable.” For a twist, Quinn only dates married men, and she follows her own set of “rules” in doing so: no meddling in happy marriages, no men with young children, no falling in love.
“Infidelity can be a tough sell,” Babula observes. “My main character only dates married men. It’s not a very nice thing to do. But I’m trying to make her a little more likable by giving her rules, at least. I thought I might lose readers because of the infidelity. Some people said, ‘I like the food, I like the wine, I just don’t like Quinn.’ But it’s the character dealing with the consequences of her decisions that adds depth to the story. I put her in a place where she has lots to learn and a huge emotional growth trajectory, and she definitely evolves.”
Babula’s evolution as a writer began in journalism, reporting news and writing features for the Arizona Republic and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. An interest in medicine led her to move to Baltimore to attend and graduate from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. She now works as an adult primary care nurse practitioner caring for military veterans. She lives with her husband and their two cats on the Inner Harbor in South Baltimore.
“My husband and I are from the West Coast. I’m from California, and initially we thought we were going to move back. But that was 22 years ago,” Babula notes. “We love Baltimore. I took a big pause on writing when I went to nursing school and then started working as a nurse practitioner, but I noticed that living in a walkable city gives you a different perspective and exposure. I had been living in the suburbs, and I had to drive everywhere. So you’re just not seeing the same people over and over again, you’re not friendly in the same way. It’s a lot easier here to get to know your neighbors and your neighborhood, and I think that helps with inspiration as a writer.”
Baltimore and Washington, D.C., both feature prominently as settings in Infidelity Rules, particularly the cities’ restaurants, which provide atmospheric backdrops for numerous romantic scenes as well as more prosaic, professional encounters. “I dropped little love notes for locals, because the settings are some real places,” Babula says. “Anyone who has dined out between D.C. and Baltimore will recognize these places.”
The characters have their local qualities, too. “Quinn is D.C.,” Babula observes. “I picture her at a restaurant in D.C., with a little gleam of sophistication. And I think, what she’s doing, she can hide it more easily in D.C. You can hide dating married men more easily in D.C.
“The people she surrounds herself with are more Baltimore, and they know what she’s doing: Her bartender, Julian, who’s the kind of bartender I would hunt down in Baltimore. Her brother, Alex, who’s a reporter for the Baltimore paper and is very inquisitive and down-to-earth, always friendly. Even her best friend, Dezi, they are all Baltimore. And Baltimore is Small-timore.”
Babula has been busy promoting the book, including readings and book signings at Bodega & Vino and at Greedy Reads in Fells Point, and she appeared at the Baltimore Book Festival last September and the Las Vegas Book Festival in October.
“When I was writing the book, I worked with a group of ‘beta’ readers through the Women’s Fiction Writers Association,” Babula says. “I was paired with women from all over the country, other writers in similar genres, and we exchanged pages once a week and gave feedback. Getting involved in the writing community was very helpful. It’s hard for writers sometimes to push their writing out to the public. I’m an introvert. I’d much rather be at home writing. But you have to keep the ball rolling, you have to keep regularly posting on social media, regularly showing up.”
She is already shopping her next novel to agents.
“It’s a psychological thriller, very different from this book, a little heavier,” she says. “It’s called Hush. A nurse uses her medical knowledge as a weapon to exact revenge against a woman who wronged her. It’s local. It’s very Baltimore.”
And there is a novel number three in the works as well. “It may or may not be a sequel to Infidelity Rules. The ending definitely allows for a sequel. But I’m not going to give anything away.”
The Peninsula Post is published by South Baltimore United, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit community organization.
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