Harry Bosch is deservedly one of the most celebrated TV detectives of all time, thanks to his landmark Prime Video showsBoschandBosch: Legacy. With the latter series about to enter its final season, fans of the TV character who haven’t yet picked up a copy of one of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels, on which Amazon’s Prime Video series are based, might well be wondering where to start. Without new Bosch episodes coming to streaming following the end ofBosch: Legacyafter season 3, Connolly’s Bosch books are another way into the same world as the TV shows for first-time readers.
Michael Connelly is a prolific author, having written 40 novels (and counting) focusing on several crime genre heroes, includingHarry Bosch andLincoln Lawyerprotagonist Mickey Haller. Bosch is by far Connelly’s most important literary character, as he features in over 30 of his novels, and is the main protagonist in 25. Not every book has been used to adapt Harry Bosch from page to screen, though, and Amazon’sBoschplays around with the order of Connelly’s stories. There are, then,two ways to read every Harry Bosch book: in release order, and in chronological orderaccording to the shows.
The Harry Bosch Books In Release Order
From The 1st Novel Released in 1992 To The Most Recent From 2024
It’s perhapsmost straightforward to read Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books as they were originally released. The order isn’t overly important, since all the novels are self-contained stories designed to stand on their own terms. However, there is an overarching developmental arc to Bosch’s character over the the course of the 25-book series.
Harry Bosch begins the novel series as a detective for the LAPD Hollywood Division, before retiring, becoming a private investigator, coming out of retirement to serve in two LAPD special units, and then retiring once more, after a brief spell as a criminal defense investigator. In the latest Bosch novels,Harry Bosch serves as a mentor of sorts to Detective Renée Ballard, as well as his own daughter Maddie Bosch.
Connelly is still writing his crime novels, andwe can expect him to add to the 25 Bosch booksthat have been published so far. First-time readers may well still be working their way through the novels already out there by the time Connelly has finished his next one.
The Harry Bosch Books In Chronological Order According To The Bosch Shows
Bosch And Bosch: Legacy Adapt Multiple Books Per Season In A Different Order From Their Release Dates
There’s no exact chronology to the Harry Bosch novel series, although reading them in order of release date follows the general trajectory of his career as a detective. On the other hand, those who want to go work their way through Connelly’s Bosch books likeepisodes ofBoschandBosch: Legacy, following the chronology of events season by season, will find their reading order quite different from the release order of the novel series.
Each season ofBoschhas incorporated the plot of between one and three Bosch novelsinto its plot, whileBosch: Legacyuses one to two novels as the basis for each of its seasons. One of Connelly’s novels,The Last Coyote, is used as source material for the plot of two different seasons ofBosch, and another,The Wrong Side of Goodbye, was adapted in both seasons 1 and 2 ofBosch: Legacy.
Seven of Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch books haven’t been used at allas the basis for the plot of eitherBoschorBosch: Legacy.The Black Ice,Lost Light,The Narrows,The Closers,The Black Box,The Dark Hours, andThe Waitingremain unadapted by Amazon MGM Studios, although they do own the TV rights for these novels as well as the rights for those they have used.
How Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch Books Connect To His Mickey Haller Series
Harry Bosch And Mickey Haller Are Half-Brothers
Given that Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller both work with criminal cases, it’s natural that there’s some overlap between the type of work the two characters do in their respective novel series. In fact,Bosch and Haller exist in the same universe, as is demonstrated by Haller’s appearance in three novels in the Bosch series:9 Dragons,The Crossing, andThe Night Fire. What’s more, Michael Connelly includes Harry Bosch in some way in all seven of the books he’s written for his Mickey Haller novel series so far.
InThe Brass Verdict, the novel on whichThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 1 is based,Haller and Bosch meet for the first time, and realize they’re half-brothers. There are three further Mickey Haller novels in which Harry Bosch plays a substantial role, one of which,The Law of Innocence, is currently being adapted for the fourth season of Netflix’s show about Haller.Bosch will be missing as an investigator fromThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 4, however, as Amazon has an exclusive license to adapt the character for video media.
All 9 Seasons Of Bosch & Bosch: Legacy Ranked Worst To Best
Bosch and Bosch: Legacy have both been remarkably consistent in terms of writing and acting, but some story lines still stand out from the rest.
Those who want to understand what role he would have played in the season can check out Connelly’s source material. Otherwise, there’s moreBoschcoming up on Prime Video, along with the 25 books featuring Harry Bosch as the central hero.
