Sheila Connolly

The museum mystery is Connolly’s second mystery book. It opens up in the central hubs of Philadelphia, where we are introduced to Nell Pratt, a renowned fund-raiser at a prestigious museum. The job is not that exciting, but Nell seems to derive her satisfaction from history and hanging around historical collections.

The best place to start is the Orchard Mysteries series, the earliest of Sheila Connolly's multi-book series: it opens with One Bad Apple (2008) and runs to 12 books across 2008–2018, ending with Nipped in the Bud (2018). Sheila Connolly's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Sheila Connolly has 82 books catalogued in this guide, published between 2008 and 2025. 66 of them belong to 10 named series — the largest being the Orchard Mysteries series with 12 books — and 16 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Sheila Connolly's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Orchard Mysteries (2008–2018, 12 books), Glassblowing Mysteries (2008–2009, 3 books) and Museum Mysteries (2010–2019, 8 books), plus 6 more.

This guide splits Sheila Connolly's 82 books into 10 named series and 16 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Orchard Mysteries (12 books, 2008–2018); County Cork (8 books, 2013–2020); Museum Mysteries (8 books, 2010–2019); Relatively Dead Mysteries (6 books, 2013–2018); Glassblowing Mysteries (3 books, 2008–2009), plus 5 further series.