A few years back, I decided I wanted to try reading some crime fiction. I’d dipped in and out of the genre over the years, enjoyed it, but I wanted to sink deep into a series. I did a bit of research and thought that I’d start to read the Michael Connelly books in order.

It was important for me to read them in order of publication because I wanted to follow Harry Bosch over the course of the books. Nothing annoys me more than starting a book before realising it’s part of a series. 

I should say at this point that you don’t have to read the Michael Connelly books in chronological order, but it really adds a layer of depth to your enjoyment of the series. You understand the occasional references to previous crimes, you get Harry’s backstory and history, and you just have a deeper appreciation of the character and his motivations.

They work well as standalone books, usually with a self contained story. But if you become as addicted as I did (and they are deliciously addictive) it helps to have an order to choose the next book from.

And I envy you if you are at the beginning of this wonderful series - you have hours of gripping, top notch crime writing of the highest order. My only piece of advice, and one I wish someone  had told me, is to space them out so that you don’t become bereft when you begin to run out of titles. Now I have to wait until they’re published!

I’m also going to include other books in the series featuring other characters from the Connelly Universe, which includes Mickey Haller, Jack McEvoy, Rachel Walling, Terry Mc Caleb and more recently Rénee Ballard. I’ll specify when it’s a standalone, and when another of the major characters feature.

One of the things I like is reading another book where Harry isn’t the main character - not that I don’t enjoy him, but sometimes you can get too much of a good thing. Time spent away from Harry means you give yourself a chance to miss him!

You have hours of reading pleasure ahead of you, because as you can see Michael Connelly has been pretty prolific over the years.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you buy a book from Amazon after you clicked the link to it on my blog, I will earn a small commission. It will not influence the price of the book for you.

Chronological Order

So there you have it - the full list of Michael Connelly books in order, featuring Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller, Jack McEvoy and Renée Ballard. I hope you found it useful and I’ll keep updating it as and when the prolific Michael Connelly releases another instalment - there’s plenty of mileage in each of the series yet.

Happy reading!