MY FAVOURITE CRIME WRITER

Michael Connelly
(Former Crime Reporter, Los Angeles Times)

Updated: April 2018.

Hieronymus Bosch

No, not  THE  Hieronymus Bosch, who created that incredible triptych:

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I'm talking about Connelly's fictitious Hieronymus Bosch - the Los Angeles Detective - named after the internationally renowned, 16th century, Dutch master with the weird paintings.  Bosch to his colleagues; Harry to his friends.

As crime thrillers go, The Black Echo & The Black Ice were OK and, unable to decide which other writer to try next, I bought Michael Connelly's third book,
The Concrete Blonde - that was a good move; now I'm a big Harry Bosch fan.

 

How should you tackle these books?  It really is better if you start at the beginning and read Connelly's books in chronological order - as laid out below.   Although not Bosch stories, The Poet, Blood Work and The Lincoln Lawyer are very good and can be read as one-offs anytime before their natural position in my recommended reading list.  They do, however, introduce characters and events that will eventually appear in the main series.  Don't miss them out!  Highly recommended to all crime fiction fans.

  1.    The Black Echo (1992)

  2.    The Black Ice (1993)

  3.    The Concrete Blonde (1994)

  4.    The Last Coyote (1995)

Read: No. 5 The Poet - Jack McEvoy

  6.    Trunk Music (1997)

Read: No.7 Blood Work - Terry McCaleb

  8.    Angels Flight (1999)

No.9 - Other Story, not in series.

10.   A Darkness More Than Night (2001)

11.   City Of Bones (2002)

No.12 - Other Story, not in series.

13.   Lost Light (2003)

14.   The Narrows (2004)

15.   The Closers (2005)

Read: No.16 The Lincoln Lawyer - Mickey Haller

17.   Echo Park (2006)

18.   The Overlook (2007)

19.   The Brass Verdict (2008) - mostly Haller

Read: No.20 The Scarecrow - Jack McEvoy

21.   Nine Dragons (2009)

22.   The Reversal (2010) - mostly Haller

Read: No.23 The Fifth Witness - Mickey Haller

24.   The Drop (2011)

25.   The Black Box (2012)

Read: No.26 The Gods Of Guilt - Mickey Haller

27.   The Burning Room (2014)

28.   The Crossing (2015)

29.   The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (2016) - with Haller

30.   Two Kinds Of Truth (2017)

31.   Dark Sacred Night (Due October 2018)

Mickey Haller Series:

16.   The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)

19.   The Brass Verdict (2008)

21.   Nine Dragons (small but significant part)

22.   The Reversal (2010)

23.   The Fifth Witness (2011)

26.   The Gods of Guilt (2013)

28.   The Crossing (mostly Bosch)

29.   The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (mostly Bosch)

Jack McEvoy:

  5.   The Poet (1996) - main character

20.   The Scarecrow (2009) - main character

Terry McCaleb:

  7.   Blood Work (1998) - main character

 Other Stories  (So-so!)  Not part of the main series.

  9.   Void Moon (2000)

12.   Chasing The Dime (2002)