Harry Bosch/H.B. Universe/Related Series

[Jeff]

https://www.goodreads.com/series/1777...

This came up in another topic but the discussion went off on a tangent. I have a few questions/comments about this series (please pardon my ignorance if there's any misunderstanding on my part):

Several books are missing from this series - The Fifth Witness and The Gods of Guilt (Mickey Haller #5 and #6), and The Scarecrow (Jack McEvoy #2). Given the name "Harry Bosch Universe", I would expect all books from the related series to be included. I don't know if these were omitted by mistake or if there's some rationale behind it, but since Harry Bosch doesn't appear in all of the books that are currently in this list, I don't understand why all the books from the related series wouldn't be included.

The "suggested reading order" that is used for the numbering is neither chronological nor by publication date (which in this case would be the same, since there aren't any "flashback" books. I don't know where this sequence originated, but it seems arbitrary to me, unless it's from the author but I don't see any such series order on his web site.

I see "Harry Bosch World" in a few places. Is this another actual series, or just an error in the title info for some books/editions?

[Jonetta]

When I created the additional series, I named it Harry Bosch World. Someone else changed it to Universe and I wasn't about to quibble.

The series was selected as a group read in one of the groups I moderate. The rationale was to include all books where Harry appears, with two exceptions. Harry doesn't appear in the first book of the Terry McCaleb series but Terry's second book is part of Harry's series. We thought it best to include the first Terry McCaleb book because it provides important background about Terry that makes a difference. Same rationale for the Jack McEvoy and Mickey Haller series. That's why you're not seeing all of the related books in these series included in Harry Bosch Universe. It is most definitely not arbitrary.

Until we get current with the series, we're following the published order for most of the stories. We've received lots of input, often conflicting, and are using information from Connelly's website where he's indicated those books that include Harry.

There are also a few short stories we haven't yet included because we're not clear whether they add to the timeline and exactly where they should fit. I'll add them once I've figured that out.

Hope that addresses your questions. Our group's primary concern is that we read the right books in the proper order as we continue through the series read.

[Jeff]

Thank you so much for the response. Based on the name of the series (whether it's "World" or "Universe"), I expected that to include all books that take place in the fictional universe in which Harry Bosch is the primary character. And since there's already a "Harry Bosch" series, I expected the "Universe" series to include all those books regardless of whether Harry Bosch appears in them. I figured there was in fact some rationale behind this one, but it was difficult to discern exactly what that was.

I do think this is a very interesting reading order now that I understand it, but personally I think the broader list is more appropriate for a series with this name. I've been re-reading a few of the books over the last couple years to re-acquaint myself with the stories featured in the Bosch TV series on Amazon. Now I'm considering following your reading order for all of them. There were only a few books out when I started this series, so it's probably been almost 20 years since I read some of the earlier ones.

[Jonetta]

I understand your point of view and, ideally, would have preferred not to create another series listing. However, I was reluctant to mess with the Harry Bosch series as it corresponds with the author's prescribed list on his website and that's in accordance with Librarian guidelines. While it's a conundrum, the explanation of the rationale of the Harry Bosch Universe (HBU) series is outlined on the series page. You'll also find other reading order listings like HBU for other series (Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs, Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost, etc.). HBU is consistent with the approach used in those series.

Again, hope this is helpful. All input is appreciated.

[Jeff]

That makes sense, although I wasn't familiar with any series/reading order listings like the ones you mentioned. I'm used to seeing either publication or chronological order. Because of that, and simply seeing the "Harry Bosch Universe" series start to appear on some of the editions in my shelves, my pre-conceived notion about what that means got in my way of understanding the explanation on the series page.

It also threw me off that the non-Harry Bosch books were out of order (at least as far as my expectation). It probably would have made more sense if I had understood the rationale, but I still think you could just as easily keep, for example, The Poet between The Last Coyote and Trunk Music, based on publication order (or elsewhere if there's some information I'm not aware of that places it somewhere else chronologically). In any case, there's supposed to be a lot of time elapsed between The Poet and The Narrows so I think either way is a reasonable alternative.

[Jonetta]

I will be changing the order of The Poet after next month (good catch). We were advised early on that it should be #11 (remember my earlier comment about conflicting advice) and now realize it should be #5. To avoid confusion in the group, I'm keeping it as 11 until we read it next month. We're on #10 and have already read several references to the case but...it is what it is.

Thanks, again, for your comments.

[Jeff]

Ah, yes, I meant to follow my suggestion with a question as to whether there were any references in the intervening books. In that case, yes, it should definitely be moved up.