How to read Bosch novels in order? A complete guide to Michael Connelly's iconic creation

If you were a Bosch fan, you most likely dearly miss the original shows as you look forward to a Ballard season two renewal, since both Bosch and Bosch: Legacy ended. But if you want to know more about Harry Bosch, one of the most loved television detectives, you can read the Bosch novel series. Written by Michael Connelly, these novels provided the stories for both shows.

Reading the Bosch novels in order will let you relive familiar stories from the screen but also discover cases and moments the show never covered. Read further to know how to read the novels in order.

Bosch novels in order

Michael Connelly is a prolific crime writer who has written over 40 novels. Characters created by him include Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer. Bosch is his most famous character, who is the protagonist in twenty-five of his novels.

The novels follow Harry's journey from an LAPD Hollywood Division detective to a private investigator, a member of special units, and eventually a mentor to others like Renée Ballard and his daughter Maddie. Connelly continues to write Bosch stories, so the list is still growing.

Bosch novels in order of release:

If you want the simplest approach, you can read the novels in the order they were published. The order is:

1. The Black Echo (1992)
2. The Black Ice (1993)
3. The Concrete Blonde (1994)
4. The Last Coyote (1995)
5. Trunk Music (1997)
6. Angels Flight (1999)
7. A Darkness More Than Night (2001)
8. City of Bones (2002)
9. Lost Light (2003)
10. The Narrows (2004)
11. The Closers (2005)
12. Echo Park (2006)
13. The Overlook (2007)
14. 9 Dragons (2009)
15. The Drop (2011)
16. The Black Box (2012)
17. The Burning Room (2014)
18. The Crossing (2015)
19. The Wrong Side of Goodbye (2016)
20. Two Kinds of Truth (2017)
21. Dark Sacred Night (2018)
22. The Night Fire (2019)
23. The Dark Hours (2021)
24. Desert Star (2022)
25. The Waiting (2024)

Bosch novels in order of TV events

You can also read the Bosch novels in order of TV events, but if you follow the TV timeline, it will be a slightly messy affair. The Prime Video shows have adapted multiple books per season, sometimes combining them. Since all the stories of the novel series can be read as standalones, multiple stories from different novels have been combined to make each season.

Bosch season one includes eight stories from City of Bones, twelve stories from Echo Park, and three stories from The Concrete Blonde. Season two includes fifteen stories from The Drop, five stories from Trunk Music, and four stories from The Last Coyote. Season three includes one story from The Black Echo and seven stories from A Darkness More Than Night. Season four includes six stories from Angels Flight, fourteen stories from 9 Dragons, and four stories from The Last Coyote.

Season five adapted twenty stories from Two Kinds of Truth, while season six includes thirteen stories from The Overlook and twenty from Dark Sacred Night. Season seven includes seventeen stories from The Burning Room. Bosch: Legacy, season one, was adapted from nineteen stories of The Wrong Side of Goodbye and twenty-two stories from The Night Fire. The second season of the spin-off includes nineteen stories from The Wrong Side of Goodbye and eighteen stories from The Crossing. The third season of the spin-off includes twenty-four stories from Desert Star.

A few of the novels haven’t yet been adapted for the shows. The Black Ice, Lost Light, The Narrows, The Closers, The Black Box, The Dark Hours, and The Waiting have not been used in any of the shows' episodes. Amazon MGM Studios owns the rights to these novels, so they could still appear in future projects.

Whether you read the Bosch novels in order of release or follow the television timeline, you’ll find a portrayal of Harry in which he evolves. The shows capture his grit and determination, but the books go deeper into his thoughts, past, and moral code. If you have been missing the shows, now is the best time to read the novels.

Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and Ballard are all streaming on Prime Video.

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