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Bosch Universe Books in Order

Part ofMichael Connelly Books in Order

Michael Connelly's Bosch Universe connects Harry Bosch's investigations with novels about lawyer Mickey Haller, detective Renee Ballard and other crime solvers.

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Bosch Universe books in publication order

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45 books

1

The Black Echo

by Michael Connelly

1992

Harry Bosch investigates the death of a fellow Vietnam tunnel rat whose body is dumped in a drainpipe, uncovering a link to a daring tunnel robbery and a dangerous alliance with an FBI agent who may not tell him everything.

2

The Black Ice

by Michael Connelly

1993

A narcotics officer is found dead in a motel room beside a note and rumors of a new drug called Black Ice, and Bosch ignores orders to follow the trail into Mexican border towns, dirty cops, and cartel violence.

3

The Concrete Blonde

by Michael Connelly

1994

While being sued for killing an alleged serial murderer, Harry Bosch watches a new victim turn up in the Dollmaker’s signature style, forcing him to question his own casework and hunt a killer who may have been hiding in plain sight.

4

The Last Coyote

by Michael Connelly

1995

Suspended and sent to therapy after lashing out at a superior, Bosch turns his attention to the unsolved murder of his mother, digging into old files, Hollywood power brokers, and a long buried cover up that has shaped his entire life.

5

The Poet

by Michael Connelly

1996

Crime reporter Jack McEvoy refuses to believe his detective twin brother died by suicide and uncovers a pattern of dead cops linked by eerie Poe quotations, drawing him into an FBI hunt for a serial killer known only as the Poet.

6

Trunk Music

by Michael Connelly

1997

A man is found executed in the trunk of his Rolls Royce near the Hollywood Bowl, sending Bosch from Los Angeles to Las Vegas as he unpicks a money trail involving the mob, corrupt cops, and a former lover he never quite forgot.

7

Blood Work

by Michael Connelly

1998

Retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb is still recovering from a heart transplant when he learns his new heart came from a murdered woman, and his search for her killer suggests a calculated series of crimes staged to look like random robberies.

8

Angels Flight

by Michael Connelly

1999

When civil rights lawyer Howard Elias is gunned down on the Angels Flight funicular, almost every cop in Los Angeles is a potential suspect, and Bosch is ordered to solve the case before the city’s fraught racial tensions explode again.

9

Void Moon

by Michael Connelly

1999

Ex con Cassie Black has built a quiet life selling luxury cars, but when the secret she lives for is threatened, she returns to high stakes casino heists in Las Vegas and collides with a lethal fixer who once destroyed everything she loved.

10

A Darkness More Than Night

by Michael Connelly

2001

Retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb is asked to read a baffling murder file and finds a pattern that seems to implicate Harry Bosch, even as Bosch testifies in a Hollywood murder trial, pulling both men into one terrifyingly intricate case.

11

City of Bones

by Michael Connelly

2002

A dog uncovers a human bone in Laurel Canyon, leading Bosch to a shallow grave and the decades old murder of a boy, a case that forces him to confront institutional indifference and speak for a victim who never had a voice.

12

Lost Light

by Michael Connelly

2003

Newly retired and working as a private investigator, Bosch reopens the unsolved killing of a young production assistant on a movie set, clashing with post-9/11 federal priorities while the case reconnects him with his past and an unexpected future.

13

The Narrows

by Michael Connelly

2004

Bosch agrees to look into the death of his old colleague Terry McCaleb and soon collides with FBI agent Rachel Walling and the return of the serial killer known as the Poet, drawing together dangerous threads from several earlier cases.

14

The Closers

by Michael Connelly

2005

Back on the LAPD in the Open-Unsolved Unit, Bosch and his former partner Kiz Rider use new DNA evidence to revive the 1988 murder of a mixed race teenager, a politically charged case watched closely by old enemies inside the department.

15

The Lincoln Lawyer

by Michael Connelly

2005

Criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller runs his practice from the back seat of his Lincoln, and thinks he has landed an easy payday defending a wealthy realtor accused of assault, until the case exposes a predator connected to an earlier wrongful conviction.

16

Echo Park

by Michael Connelly

2006

Thirteen years after a young woman vanishes from a Hollywood parking lot, a serial killer offers to confess to her murder, forcing Bosch to relive the failed investigation and decide how much of the blame he and his old partner must carry.

17

The Overlook

by Michael Connelly

2007

Bosch catches the late night murder of a doctor who had access to radioactive cesium, then finds himself pushed aside by federal agents who fear a dirty bomb plot, so he works the case his own way before the city faces disaster.

18

The Brass Verdict

by Michael Connelly

2008

After a colleague is murdered, Haller inherits a high profile double murder trial involving a Hollywood mogul, only to discover the killer may be targeting him next, so he teams up uneasily with Harry Bosch to survive and find the truth.

19

Nine Dragons

by Michael Connelly

2009

After a convenience store owner Bosch knows is shot dead in South Los Angeles, the trail points to a Hong Kong triad, and then his daughter Maddie is kidnapped overseas, forcing him into a frantic rescue mission far from his home ground.

20

The Scarecrow

by Michael Connelly

2009

Facing a layoff from the Los Angeles Times, McEvoy decides to go out with one last big story and reexamines a teen’s murder confession, only to stumble onto a technologically savvy killer who uses a data center job to stalk and trap his victims.

21

Blue on Black

by Michael Connelly

2010

Two women have disappeared, and Bosch is sure an avid fisherman named Denninger is responsible, but with only a handful of photographs as evidence he turns to FBI profiler Rachel Walling, whose reading of the images may finally crack the case.

22

The Reversal

by Michael Connelly

2010

Frustrated with defense work, Haller agrees to lead the prosecution in a retrial of Jason Jessup, a convicted child killer recently freed by new DNA evidence, and brings in Maggie McPherson and Harry Bosch as they battle a ruthless defendant on bail.

23

Angle of Investigation

by Michael Connelly

2011

This collection gathers three Harry Bosch stories in which he reopens a Christmas Eve burglary with echoes from his past, confronts a child’s suspicious death on Father’s Day, and revisits one of the first homicides he ever worked as a rookie cop.

24

Suicide Run

by Michael Connelly

2011

In these three Bosch stories, an actress’s supposed suicide, the long ago murder of a teenage girl whose killer now sits on death row, and the death of a poker pro all test Bosch’s need to keep digging after others move on.

25

The Drop

by Michael Connelly

2011

Given only a few years before forced retirement, Bosch juggles a cold case revived by a troubling DNA hit and the suspicious fall of a councilman’s son from a hotel balcony, exposing both a long running predator and ugly city politics.

26

The Fifth Witness

by Michael Connelly

2011

In the middle of the foreclosure crisis, Haller defends Lisa Trammel, an angry homeowner turned protester accused of killing a bank executive, and must pick apart organized crime ties, financial fraud, and his own client’s lies in front of a skeptical jury.

27

The Black Box

by Michael Connelly

2012

A shell casing from a recent crime links back to an unsolved killing during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and Bosch reopens the murder of a foreign photojournalist, hunting for the one missing piece of evidence that will finally unlock the case.

28

The Gods of Guilt

by Michael Connelly

2013

Haller takes on the case of a so called digital pimp charged with murdering Gloria Dayton, a sex worker he once thought he had helped save, and the trial forces him to reckon with the way his past choices might have put her back in harm’s way.

29

Switchblade

by Michael Connelly

2014

An anonymous tip pushes Bosch toward a decades old stabbing of a teenage boy in an abandoned restaurant, where new DNA evidence points to a convicted killer and Bosch has only one chance to draw out a confession that will stand up in court.

30

The Burning Room

by Michael Connelly

2014

Working cold cases with young detective Lucia Soto, Bosch investigates a man who dies from complications of a long ago shooting, only to uncover political secrets, botched police work, and a separate unsolved fire that haunts his partner’s past.

31

The Crossing

by Michael Connelly

2015

Newly retired from the LAPD, Bosch reluctantly agrees to help his half brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, investigate a client who swears he was framed for murder, sending Bosch across the aisle to probe corrupt cops and planted evidence.

32

The Wrong Side of Goodbye

by Michael Connelly

2016

Splitting his time between volunteer work for a small police department and private investigations, Bosch is hired by a dying billionaire to find a possible heir while also tracking a serial rapist, two cases that test his sense of legacy and justice.

33

The Late Show

by Michael Connelly

2017

Banished to Hollywood’s overnight shift after filing a complaint against a superior, detective Renée Ballard works multiple cases in one sleepless stretch, then quietly keeps investigating a brutal assault and a homeless woman’s killing long after other cops move on.

34

Two Kinds of Truth

by Michael Connelly

2017

Volunteering with a small city’s cold case unit, Bosch looks into the murder of a pharmacist caught in a prescription drug scheme even as a long imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him, forcing Bosch to defend both his reputation and his past cases.

35

Dark Sacred Night

by Michael Connelly

2018

Working the graveyard shift, Ballard catches Bosch rifling through case files about Daisy Clayton, a murdered runaway, and ends up partnering with the retired detective to chase the long cold killer while still handling whatever the night throws at her.

36

The Night Fire

by Michael Connelly

2019

After his old mentor dies, Bosch inherits a stolen murder book about a young man shot in an alley and asks Ballard to help him see what was missed, even as both detectives juggle an arson death and the killing of a prominent judge.

37

Fair Warning

by Michael Connelly

2020

Now working for a consumer watchdog site, McEvoy becomes a suspect when a woman he once dated is murdered, so he digs into the unregulated world of DNA testing companies and an incel serial killer called the Shrike, teaming again with Rachel Walling.

38

The Law of Innocence

by Michael Connelly

2020

Pulled over and arrested after a dead client is found in the trunk of his Lincoln, Haller must prepare his own murder defense from jail, relying on Bosch and his team to uncover who framed him and why before a jury becomes the ultimate judge.

39

The Dark Hours

by Michael Connelly

2021

On New Year’s Eve 2020, detective Renée Ballard catches a street party shooting that appears tied to one of Bosch’s old cases while also hunting a pair of serial rapists known as the Midnight Men, all against the backdrop of a battered LAPD.

40

Desert Star

by Michael Connelly

2022

Renée Ballard returns to the LAPD to rebuild its cold case unit and invites Bosch to pursue the family annihilation that has haunted him for years, while together they balance that obsession against other victims who still need answers.

41

Resurrection Walk

by Michael Connelly

2023

After freeing a wrongfully convicted man, Mickey Haller starts sifting through letters from prisoners claiming innocence and asks Bosch to help, and together they focus on a woman imprisoned for killing her deputy ex husband in a case that never quite added up.

42

The Waiting

by Michael Connelly

2024

Ballard’s cold case squad gets a DNA lead tying a recent arrest to an old serial rapist dubbed the Pillowcase Rapist, while the theft of her badge and gun forces her to investigate under the radar and draw in both Bosch and his daughter, Maddie.

43

Nightshade

by Michael Connelly

2025

Exiled from the mainland homicide desk to Catalina Island, Detective Stilwell expects routine calls until a woman’s body is found wrapped and anchored at the bottom of the harbor, pushing him to defy orders and expose the island’s carefully hidden secrets.

44
New

Ironwood

by Michael Connelly

2026

After a drug drop at Catalina’s mountaintop airstrip goes violently wrong, Stilwell is sidelined by an internal inquiry but keeps digging, following a hiker’s long missing backpack all the way to Renée Ballard’s cold case unit and a taunting, far reaching criminal.

45
New

The Hollow

by Michael Connelly

2026

A settlement for former residents of an abusive children's home reawakens Harry Bosch's memories of a boy's suspicious death. Refusing money in favor of justice, he reopens the case and follows a predator's trail into later crimes.

Series background & context

Michael Connelly's Bosch Universe brings several connected crime series into a shared fictional world. Harry Bosch is its central figure, first appearing in The Black Echo in 1992. Other protagonists enter through their own books before meeting characters from neighboring series. The result is a collection that can be approached through an individual detective or lawyer, or read across publication order to follow the developing connections among them.

Bosch's work places criminal investigation at the center of the collection. His cases and professional circumstances change across the novels, while relationships established in one book can matter in later ones. Los Angeles provides a recurring setting, including its police departments, courtrooms and communities. The universe also makes room for people whose work approaches crime from other directions, including defense attorney Mickey Haller, journalist Jack McEvoy and former FBI investigator Terry McCaleb.

A character who leads one novel may become an ally or a source of difficulty in another.

A Darkness More Than Night brings Bosch and McCaleb into the same story. Bosch is involved in the prosecution of a movie director while McCaleb, retired on Catalina Island, is asked to examine a puzzling murder. The Brass Verdict creates another important meeting, placing Haller's inherited defense case alongside Bosch's investigation into a lawyer's death. Their professional purposes are different, and cooperation requires them to navigate the tensions between representing a client and pursuing a suspect. These crossings let familiar characters be seen from perspectives outside their own usual series.

Renée Ballard adds a later strand, beginning with The Late Show. In Dark Sacred Night, her night-shift work brings her into contact with the retired Bosch, who is pursuing an old murder. Their shared concern for the victim becomes the basis for working together. Later books continue to connect their investigations, while Haller's cases also draw Bosch into the legal side of the collection. The recurring collaborations build on earlier relationships without turning every book into the same kind of story.

Publication order offers a way to follow introductions, encounters and changing circumstances as they originally appeared. Readers who prefer a narrower route can begin with a protagonist's first novel and follow that series, then branch into the connected books. The wider collection includes police investigations, courtroom conflicts and reporting, giving its central questions about evidence and justice several professional settings. Its continuity comes from characters sharing a world, and from the consequences of their work carrying forward into later cases.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shape MRB and its growth.

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