michael connelly is an award-winning crime thriller author. If you’re looking to start reading his work, we’ve compiled a list of the best Michael Connelly books. our list has been created in agreement with goodreads users and taking into account their reviews.
All of the books on our list take place within Connelly’s Harry Bosch universe. therefore, if you’re new to his works, the summaries below may contain potential spoilers for the entire series. But if you’re itching to read the best of the best of Connelly’s books, or compare your personal favorites to this list, read on.
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who is michael connelly?
but first, let’s dig into a bit of information about the author.
Michael Connelly is the best-selling author of 36 novels, most of which take place within the Harry Bosch universe. Collectively, his books have sold more than 80 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 45 languages.
plus, his books have been adapted into star-studded movies. In 2002, the blood test was adapted into a film directed by Clint Eastwood, in which she also starred. In 2011, The Lincoln Lawyer premiered starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller.
Amazon Prime has also adapted Harry Bosch into a television drama series starring Titus Welliver as Harry. Connelly is a producer and writer for the show.
Before becoming an author, Connelly worked as a journalist for newspapers in Florida and California. as a journalist he specialized in the subject of crime. he brings those experiences to his writings and says there is a grain of truth at the core of all of his books.
summary of the best books by michael connelly
While most of Connelly’s books are self-contained crime thrillers with a mystery ending last, it can sometimes be helpful to start early in a series to experience character development as the author intended. this list does not address the series in order.
Instead, we’ve compiled the best Michael Connelly books by analyzing data from Goodreads users. all the books on this list have over 50,000 ratings. In addition, they all have an average rating above 4.0 on the 5.0 scale of goodreads.
So this list will jump in and feature books from across Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch universe. so consider yourself doubly warned if you’re new to his works and be wary of potential spoilers. However, if you’ve piqued his interest, or if you’re already a die-hard fan, read on for the best Michael Connelly books.
15. the crossing
Our list begins with Crossover, which is the eighteenth book in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. This book has been read and rated nearly 54,000 times on Goodreads.
Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the Los Angeles Police Department, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs your help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all the evidence points to Haller’s client, a former gang member turned family man. Even though the murder rap seems irrefutable, Mickey is sure it’s staged.
bosch wants nothing to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense. he feels that he will undo all the good he has done in his thirty years as a homicide cop.
but mickey promises to let the chips fall where they may. If Harry proves that his client did it, under the rules of discovery, they are required to turn the evidence over to the prosecution.
Although it goes against all his instincts, Bosch reluctantly accepts the case. the prosecution file has too many holes and he has to find out for himself. if haller’s client didn’t do it, who did?
With the secret help of his former LAPD partner, Lucy Soto, Harry begins to investigate. soon his investigation leads him inside the police department. there he realizes that the killer he has been tracking has also been tracking him.
14. two kinds of truth
Next, we turn to another book in the Harry Bosch series, which is Connelly’s longest-running and most popular series. this book has been rated nearly 58,000 times. It is the twentieth book in the Harry Bosch series and the thirtieth in the overall Harry Bosch universe.
Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department and is called to a local pharmacy where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the city’s 3-person squad of detectives analyze the clues, which lead into the dangerous big business world of pill mills and prescription drug abuse.
Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch’s LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the lapd on bad terms, so his former colleagues are unwilling to protect his reputation. he must fend for himself to clear his name and keep a clever killer in prison.
The two unrelated cases wrap around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way, Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the one that sets you free and the one that leaves you buried in darkness.
13. the cement blonde
The third book in the Harry Bosch series has just over 60,000 ratings and is thirteenth on our list.
Detective Harry Bosch was certain he had shot the serial killer responsible for a series of murders in Los Angeles. But now, a new crime makes him question his convictions.
They call him the Dollmaker, a serial killer who stalks the Angels and leaves a creepy calling card on the faces of his female victims. When Detective Harry Bosch shoots a suspect, everyone thinks the town’s nightmare is over.
but then the dead man’s widow sues harry and the lapd for killing the wrong man. an accusation that rings terrifyingly true when a new corpse bearing the dollmaker’s macabre signature is found.
Now, for the second time, Harry must hunt down a ruthless death dealer before he strikes again. Speeding through a bloody quest, Harry will go from the hard edges of Los Angeles. night to the last place he wanted to go: the darkness of his own heart…
12. the drop
the drop is the fifteenth novel by harry bosch and has more than 60,000 ratings on goodreads. It ranks twelfth on our list of the best Michael Connelly books.
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Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. in one morning, you get two.
Dna from a 1989 rape and murder match that of a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer, or did something go terribly wrong at the new regional crime lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab’s DNA cases currently in court.
So Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene riddled with domestic politics. Alderman Irvin Irving’s son jumped or was pushed from a window at Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch’s longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry take charge of the investigation.
Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries: a killer operating in the city as an unknown for up to three decades, and a political conspiracy stretching back to the police department’s dark history.
11. trunk music
as we get closer to the top ten books by michael connelly, goodreads users continue to love harry bosch with #11 on our list being the fifth book in the series with over 61,000 ratings.
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Back at work after an involuntary leave of absence, LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch is up for a challenge. but his first case is a bit more than he expected.
It begins with the body of a Hollywood producer in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce, shot twice in the head at close range. it sounds like “trunk music”, a mafia hit. but the lapd’s organized crime unit curiously isn’t interested.
When Harry follows a trail of gambling debts to Las Vegas, the case suddenly becomes more complex and much more personal.
A rekindled romance with an old girlfriend opens up new perspectives on the murder, and begins to shed light on a shocking triangle of corruption and collusion. Booted from the case, Harry himself is soon the one under investigation. but only one bullet can stop harry when he is looking for the truth…
10. the investment
Coming into the top 10 of Michael Connelly’s best books is the third installment in the Mickey Haller series with over 63,000 ratings. While a separate series, Mickey is connected to beloved fan favorite Harry Bosch and takes place within the same universe. A defense attorney in Los Angeles, Mickey is Harry’s paternal half-brother.
Mickey Haller, a long-time defense attorney, is recruited to switch sides and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder.
After 24 years in prison, new DNA evidence means convicted murderer Jason Jessup has been granted another trial. Haller accepts the case on the condition that he chooses his investigator: Detective Harry Bosch of the Los Angeles Police Department.
haller becomes convinced that jessup is guilty. Together, Bosch and Haller embark on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, his defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a fugitive eyewitness reluctant to testify after all these years.
With the odds and the evidence stacked against them, Bosch and Haller must catch a sadistic killer once and for all. what bosch thinks if he’s sure of one thing, it’s that jason jessup plans to kill again.
9. the fifth witness
the fifth witness is the fourth installment in the mickey haller series and has 65,000 ratings on goodreads, making it ninth on our list.
in this book, mickey haller has fallen on hard times. expands his business into foreclosure defense. only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker he blames for trying to take his house away from him.
Mickey throws his team into overdrive to exonerate Lisa Trammel, even though the evidence and his own suspicions tell him his client is guilty. Shortly after learning that the victim had his own black market dealings, Haller is also attacked. and then he is sure that he is on the right track.
Despite the danger and uncertainty, Haller mounts the best defense of his career in a trial where the latest surprise comes after the verdict.
8. the brass verdict
The Bronze Verdict is the second book by Mickey Haller, while it is also Harry Bosch’s fourteenth book chronologically and the eighteenth in-universe overall. It has over 66,000 reviews on goodreads.
Things are finally looking up for defense attorney mickey haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom.
When Hollywood attorney Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet. defending walter elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering her wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him in a big way, he learns that Vincent’s killer could be coming for him next.
Harry Bosch enters. Determined to find Vincent’s killer, he isn’t opposed to using Haller as bait. But as the danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only option is to work together.
7. the wrong side of goodbye
The seventh book on our list is The Wrong Side of Goodbye. While this book has 64,000 ratings, which is less than the previous two books on our list, it does have a higher star rating that lifts it to seventh place. This is also the nineteenth book by Harry Bosch.
harry bosch is california’s newest private investigator. he doesn’t advertise, he doesn’t have an office and he’s picky about the people he works for, but it doesn’t matter. His thirty-year-old skills with the lapd speak for themselves.
Soon, one of Southern California’s biggest tycoons is calling. the reclusive billionaire is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love.
but shortly after I got pregnant, it disappeared. she had the baby? and if so, what happened to her?
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Desperate to find out if he has an heir, the dying tycoon hires Bosch, the only person he can trust. With a great fortune at stake, Harry realizes that his mission could be risky not only for himself but also for the person he seeks. But as he begins to uncover the haunting story, and finds strange links to his own past, he knows he can’t rest until he finds the truth.
At the same time, unable to completely leave police work behind, he volunteers as an investigator for a small cash-strapped police department and finds himself tracking down a serial rapist who is one of the most puzzling and dangerous enemies whom he has faced. .
6. the last coyote
This novel is the fourth in the Harry Bosch series. It has over 67,000 ratings on goodreads, bringing us ever closer to our top five picks.
Harry attacked his commanding officer and is suspended indefinitely, pending a psychiatric evaluation. he at first resists the lapd psychiatrist, but eventually admits that something has been bothering him for a long time. In 1961, when Harry was twelve years old, his mother, a prostitute, was brutally murdered and no one has been charged with the crime.
With the time off that a suspension brings, Harry opens the thirty-year-old case file and finds himself irresistibly drawn into a past he’s always avoided. it’s clear the case was rigged and the smell of cover-up is unmistakable.
someone powerful may have averted justice and Harry vows to uncover the truth. As he relentlessly follows the broken pieces of the case, piqued interest sparks new murders and pushes Harry over the edge of his work. and the life of him.
5. the late show
Coming in as Michael Connelly’s fifth best book is the first in the Renée Ballard: The Late Show series. this book has over 70,000 ratings. In addition, this series also takes place within the Harry Bosch universe.
Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, starting many investigations but finishing none as she hands her cases over to the day shift detectives every morning. Once an up-and-coming detective, she took this hit as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
but one night he comes across two cases he doesn’t want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the murder of a young woman in a nightclub. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn.
against the orders and wishes of his own partner, he works both cases during the day and keeps his night shift. As the cases intertwine, she is brought closer to her own demons and why she won’t quit her job no matter what the department throws at her.
4. the black ice
The second installment in the Harry Bosch series has over 71,000 ratings on Goodreads. Black Ice ranks fourth on our list of the best Michael Connelly books.
Narcotics Officer Cal Moore’s orders were to investigate the latest drug murder in town. Instead, he ends up in a motel room with a fatal gunshot wound to the head and a suicide note in his back pocket.
working on the case, lapd detective harry bosch remembers the main police rule he learned long ago: look not for the facts, but for the glue that holds them together.
Soon Harry is making some very dangerous connections, starting with a dead cop and leading to a bloody series of murders stretching from Hollywood Boulevard to back alleys south of the border. Now this battle-scarred veteran will find himself at the center of a complex and deadly game, one in which he may be the next and most likely victim.
3. the poet
In the top three of Michael Connelly’s best books is The Poet, which is the first book in the Jack McEvoy series. It has over 93,000 goodreads ratings and is also part of Connelly’s Harry Bosch universe.
jack mcevoy, a reporter for denver crime-beat, specializes in violent deaths. So when his brother, the homicide detective, commits suicide, McEvoy manages the only way he knows how: he decides to write the story.
but his investigation leads him to suspect a serial killer is at work. a cunning assassin who is killing cops and leaving a trail of poetic clues. It’s the news of a lifetime for him if he can get the story without getting killed.
2. the black echo
While Michael Connelly’s longest-running series, Harry Bosch, obviously dominated this list of his best books, the first book in the series takes second place. however, the black echo still has an impressive 175,000 good read rating and is one you should make sure you pick up.
For maverick Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the Mulholland Dam outfall is more than just another anonymous statistic. this is personal.
That’s because the man killed was a “tunnel rat” from vietnam who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam.
From a dangerous maze of dead ends to a daring criminal heist under the city, your survival instincts will once again be tested to the limit. Confronted by enemies within his own department and forced to make the agonizing choice between justice and revenge, Bosch hunts down a killer whose true face will surprise him.
1. lincoln’s lawyer
Finally, at the top of our list as the best Michael Connelly book is The Lincoln Lawyer. This is Mickey Haller’s first novel, and it has double the ratings of our third-place book with nearly 215,000 ratings on Goodreads.
mickey haller has spent his entire professional life in fear that he would not recognize innocence if he were in front of him. but what he should have been on the alert for was evil.
haller is a lincoln attorney, a criminal defense attorney who works out of the backseat of his lincoln car. he travels between remote Los Angeles courthouses to defend clients of all kinds. Bikers, hustlers, drunk drivers, drug dealers – they’re all on Mickey Haller’s client list.
For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence. it is about negotiation and manipulation. sometimes it’s even about justice.
A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for assaulting a woman he picked up at a bar recruits Haller to defend him, and Mickey gets his first high-paying client in years. It’s a defense attorney’s dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence mounts, Haller comes to believe that this may be the easiest case of his career.
Then someone close to him is murdered, and Haller discovers that his quest for innocence has brought him face to face with an evil as pure as flame. To escape without getting burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint and instinct in his arsenal, this time to save his own life.
summary of the 15 best books by michael connelly
are you a big fan of michael connelly? What do you think of this list of the 15 best Michael Connelly books? again, we compiled our list using data from goodreads, so these are the titles that most people have been reading and rating.
here’s the list once again so you can check out connelly’s best books for yourself.
- the lincoln lawyer (2005)
- the black echo (1992)
- the poet (1996)
- the black ice (1993 )
- the late show (2017)
- the last coyote (1995)
- the wrong side of goodbye (2016)
- the brass verdict (2008)
- the fifth witness (2011)
- the investment (2010)
- music from the trunk (1997)
- the fall (2011)
- the concrete blonde (1994)
- two types of truth (2017)
- the journey (2015)
Looking for more books in order?
look at this list of james patterson books in order.
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