Harry Bosch

Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch
Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch
First appearance	The Black Echo (1992)
Created by	Michael Connelly
Portrayed by	Titus Welliver
Information
Full name	Hieronymus Bosch
Gender	Male
Occupation	Detective LAPD, private investigator
Title	Detective III
Spouse(s)	Eleanor (divorced)
Children	Maddie (daughter)
Relatives	Mickey Haller (half-brother)
Nationality	American

Detective Hieronymus 'Harry' Bosch (pronounced "He-ron-ee-mus" "Bosh") is a literary character created by Michael Connelly in the 1992 novel The Black Echo, and the lead character in a police procedural series now numbering twenty-one novels. The novels are more or less coincident in time frame with the year in which they were published. Harry, as he is commonly known by his associates, is a veteran police homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Bosch was named after the 15th century Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch.

Bosch's mother was a prostitute in Hollywood and was murdered in 1961 (10/28/61) when Bosch was 11 years old. His father, whom he met later in life, was a powerful defense attorney. Bosch spent his youth in various orphanages, youth halls, and the occasional foster family. When he learned of his mother's murder, Bosch, then living at a youth hall, dived to the bottom of the pool, screamed until he ran out of air and then swam back to the surface. This event is referenced in several Bosch novels. He joined the United States Army when he was seventeen years old, after getting his foster father to sign the enlistment papers that gave his consent for his minor foster son.

In Vietnam, Bosch was a "tunnel rat" (nicknamed Hari Kari Bosch), with the 1st Infantry Division—a specialized soldier whose job it was to go into the maze of tunnels used as barracks, hospitals, and on some occasions, morgues, by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army. While in the enemy tunnels, the Tunnel Rats would kill enemy soldiers they encountered, gather documents for analysis by military intelligence, and then plant C-4 high explosive charges that they would set to detonate after they exited the tunnels. Once, while on R&R leave in Hawaii, Bosch went but returned to his unit and served two tours of duty in Vietnam.