Shelby Nichols Books in Order
Part ofColleen Helme Books in OrderThis page lists the Shelby Nichols books in order by Colleen Helme, with quick summaries, series background, and clear where-to-start reading help.
Last updated: June 30, 2026
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Publication Order
22 books
Carrots
by Colleen Helme
2011
A grocery run turns Shelby Nichols' life upside down when a bank robber's bullet leaves her able to hear thoughts. Her new gift makes her useful, vulnerable, and suddenly tangled up with killers and organized crime.
Fast Money
by Colleen Helme
2011
Five million dollars appears in Shelby's bank account, and trouble follows immediately. With Uncle Joey back in the picture and a killer circling, she has to sort out ransom, lies, and murder before she becomes the next target.
Lie or Die
by Colleen Helme
2012
Opening a mind-reading agency sounds smart until Shelby gets trapped between stolen money, shady clients, and an enemy from her past. To stay alive, she has to lean on every trick she has, including a few lies.
Secrets That Kill
by Colleen Helme
2013
What starts as a simple favor for a mob boss pulls Shelby into a rival crime ring and a deadly game of secrets. Her psychic edge helps at the card table, but it may not be enough to keep her alive.
Trapped By Revenge
by Colleen Helme
2013
Framed for murder, Shelby has to find the real killer before the police close in for good. Her link to the mob does her no favors, and every step toward the truth puts her in deeper danger.
Deep In Death
by Colleen Helme
2014
Shelby never believed in ghosts until one asks for help. While tracking a missing woman and untangling a darker mystery, she has to face bodies, mob business, and a restless spirit that refuses to be ignored.
Crossing Danger
by Colleen Helme
2015
Shelby's latest troubles include a missing child, a nosy reporter, and corruption inside the police department. Her mind-reading gift helps, but it also drags her deeper into a case where every answer opens a new risk.
Devious Minds
by Colleen Helme
2016
Shelby heads to Paris and lands in the middle of an international plot involving a rogue agent and looming violence. Out of her element but never out of nerve, she races to stop an attack before the stakes turn global.
Hidden Deception
by Colleen Helme
2016
A stash of missing diamonds leads Shelby into a murder case packed with secrets and shifting motives. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes, especially when the biggest threat is not the one she expects.
Laced In Lies
by Colleen Helme
2017
Shelby is still hiding too much from her husband when Ramos needs her help again. Between mind-reading, mob trouble, and mounting lies, she has to solve the case without blowing up her family or her future.
A Midsummer Night's Murder
by Colleen Helme
2018
Shelby tackles a murder case in this quick novella, with a sharp-tongued prosecuting attorney making everything harder. To save the wrong man from prison, she has to outthink the law and catch the real killer.
Deadly Escape
by Colleen Helme
2018
An escaped convict puts Uncle Joey in danger just as a federal agent from Shelby's past reappears. Between mob trouble and fresh threats, Shelby must trust her instincts and survive another case that keeps getting worse.
Devil in a Black Suit
by Colleen Helme
2018
Alejandro Ramos is pulled back into his past when a government agent asks for a favor he cannot refuse. In Cuba, he teams up with a dangerous spy and uncovers family secrets that could get them both killed.
Marked for Murder
by Colleen Helme
2019
When a friend's desperate call draws Shelby into a vicious scheme, someone starts attacking both her name and her life. She has to expose the truth fast, before a killer finishes ruining her for good.
Dying Wishes
by Colleen Helme
2020
Shelby wants a break, but promises to her kids, pressure from the police, and bad news from Uncle Joey say otherwise. Then a dying wish turns into a murder investigation, and her quiet week disappears completely.
Ghostly Serenade
by Colleen Helme
2020
Shelby's New York vacation turns into a murder case, a mob feud, and one very inconvenient ghost. With Uncle Joey's family under threat, she must juggle psychic clues and rising danger before revenge claims another victim.
High Stakes Crime
by Colleen Helme
2021
A reporter, a poker tournament, and a buried treasure story shove Shelby into another deadly mess. While helping Uncle Joey and dodging a killer, she has to bluff her way through secrets that could get her killed.
License to Steal
by Colleen Helme
2022
Fresh off getting her PI license, Shelby takes on a stolen figurine case that quickly turns deadly. Between a private eye, a mob boss, and a wealthy philanthropist, everyone has motives and nobody seems clean.
Ties That Bind
by Colleen Helme
2022
What starts as harmless interest in cryptocurrency becomes murder, threats, and a vanished killer. Shelby has to follow the money fast, because once her family is in danger, every bad investment turns personal.
Grave Duty
by Colleen Helme
2023
A rose left on a grave pulls Shelby into a revenge plot far deadlier than it first looks. While police and mob worlds close around her, one wrong move could bury her alongside the truth.
Presumed Dead
by Colleen Helme
2024
A search-and-rescue trip turns into kidnapping and a race through the woods when the man Shelby loves is taken. This time her psychic edge, loyal allies, and stubborn courage may still not be enough.
Poisoned Truth
by Colleen Helme
2025
Poisoned pastries, cyberattacks, and too many lies make this one of Shelby's messiest cases yet. Reading minds should help, but when everyone is hiding something, Shelby has to find the truth before it kills her.
Series background & context
The Shelby Nichols books begin with one very ordinary errand and one very bad stroke of luck. In Carrots, Shelby is a married mother of two who gets caught in a robbery while shopping for dinner. A bullet grazes her head, and when she recovers she can suddenly hear what other people are thinking.
That gift changes everything. Shelby still has a husband, children, errands, and a life that ought to stay normal, but normal becomes impossible once she realizes how useful mind-reading can be. Sometimes she helps the police. Sometimes she gets dragged into work for the mob, especially when Uncle Joey Manetto decides her talent can solve his problems. Before long, Shelby is balancing family life with murder cases, kidnappings, missing money, and more secrets than anyone should have to carry.
It gets messy fast.
A big part of the series' charm is the cast that gathers around her. There are detectives who know Shelby is useful even when they do not fully trust her, a husband who has to deal with the fallout from her strange new life, and recurring mob-world players like Uncle Joey and Ramos, the hitman readers quickly latch onto. Shelby is smart and brave, but she is also funny, impulsive, and sometimes a little too willing to say yes before thinking through the consequences. That mix keeps the books moving.
As the series goes on, Shelby steps more fully into investigative work. Books like Fast Money, Lie or Die, and Secrets That Kill establish the blend of mystery, humor, and danger that defines the early run. Later books push the idea further. Deep In Death brings in a ghost. Devious Minds takes Shelby to Paris. Ghostly Serenade, Presumed Dead, and Poisoned Truth show how much bigger and more dangerous her world can get, without losing the family scenes and comic timing that make the series feel approachable.
The tone is part cozy mystery, part paranormal suspense, and part mob caper. There are murders, threats, and real stakes, but Helme keeps the books lively. Shelby can go from worrying about her kids to reading the mind of a criminal in the same chapter, and that contrast is the whole point. If you like capable but very human heroines, recurring side characters, and plots that move quickly without getting grim, this series knows exactly what it is doing.
Underneath the fun, there is a steady ongoing story about loyalty. Shelby wants to protect her family, do the right thing, and stay in control of a power she never asked for. The trouble is that those goals do not always line up. Working with the police can put her in conflict with the mob. Helping one friend can put another in danger. Even mind-reading does not make life simple when everyone around her has secrets.
Start at the beginning. Carrots lays out Shelby's voice, the rules of her gift, and the people who keep shaping her choices book after book. After that, the series keeps widening, but it never loses sight of the central idea: an ordinary woman got one impossible ability, and now she has to survive the consequences with wit, nerve, and just enough sass to get through the day.
Edited by
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