Joseph Badal Books in Order

Joseph Badal is an American suspense and thriller author best known for the Danforth Saga, the Lassiter/Martinez Case Files, and the Curtis Chronicles. Before writing fiction, was a U.S. Army officer and he worked for decades in banking and financial services, background that influenced many of his books.

Depending on the series, his books often switch between military operations, intelligence work, terrorism, financial crime, and New Mexico homicide cases. The Danforth books are international military and spy thrillers, while the Lassiter/Martinez books are police procedurals set in Albuquerque.

This page lists all Joseph Badal books in order, including the Danforth Saga, Lassiter/Martinez Case Files, Curtis Chronicles, standalone thrillers, and anthologies.

Latest Joseph Badal Books

More upcoming releases:

• The Reunion (November 2026)

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Bob Danforth Saga (Books in Order)

The Danforth Saga follows CIA Special Operations officer Bob Danforth and his family over nearly three decades, starting with the 1971 kidnapping of his young son Michael in Athens and getting worse as new threats emerge involving terrorism, geopolitical intrigue, and covert military operations across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The series is influenced by Joseph Badal’s actual military service in Greece and his knowledge of intelligence tradecraft. Each book introduces new threats while keeping the Danforth family arc throughout the entire series with Bob, his wife Liz, and eventually Michael being present in all the books, making this more of a family saga than a standard procedural novel.

1. Terror Cell, 2004
2. The Nostradamus Secret, 2011
3. Evil Deeds, 2011
4. The Lone Wolf Agenda, 2013
5. Death Ship, 2015
6. Sins of the Fathers, 2017
7. The Carnevale Conspiracy, 2021

Lassiter / Martinez Case Files Series (Books in Order)

The Lassiter/Martinez Case Files follows New Mexico homicide detectives Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez as they investigate murders in and around Albuquerque. The series begins with Borderline, where the detectives are assigned to the murder of a wealthy Albuquerque socialite who, in the past destroyed a lot of people and who made a lot of enemies, and it continues with cases involving serial murder, local violence, returning enemies, and personal threats to both detectives.

This is a police-investigation series rather than a military thriller. The focus is on two working detectives, their partnership, and the pressure of solving crimes in a New Mexico setting, especially in Albuquerque, where the cases often show the messy personal lives behind the crimes. Later books bring back Lisa French as an ongoing threat, so the series is easier to read from book 1 for the overarching theme, although each case still has its own separate investigation. A movie option for the series has been sold, though there hare been no production announced so far.

1. Borderline, 2015
2. Dark Angel, 2016
3. Natural Causes, 2019
4. Everything to Lose, 2022
5. Gone Forever, 2026

Curtis Chronicles (Books in Order)

The Curtis Chronicles begins with Albuquerque surgeon Matt Curtis, who is pulled into danger after he got information that makes him question whether his sister Susan really died by suicide in Honolulu. With help from Susan’s best friend Renee Drummond and Matt’s former Special Forces comrade Esteban Maldonado, the first book changes direction from a family death to coming face to face with organized crime including human trafficking, revenge, and a wider international criminal network.

As the series continues, beyond Matt and Renee, new members are added to include retired CIA agent Eddie Parnall and former Bulgarian Special Operator Tatiana Borodvic, who get their own story in Soulless. This makes the Curtis books different shape from both the Danforth Saga and Lassiter/Martinez as it starts with a small personal mystery, then it expands into a much larger setting involving crime, covert skills, international threats, and human trafficking.

1. The Motive, 2016
2. Obsessed, 2018
3. Justice, 2019
4. Soulless, 2025

Standalone Novels

• The Pythagorean Solution, 2003
• Shell Game, 2012
• Ultimate Betrayal, 2014
• Payback, 2020

Short Story Collections and Anthologies

• Suspense Magazine December 2011, 2011
• Uncommon Assassins, 2012
• Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology, 2013
• Insidious Assassins, 2015
• Nothing Good Happens After Midnight, 2020

Joseph Badal Biography

Joseph Badal is an American author who wrote military thrillers, spy thrillers, police mysteries, and financial crime novels.
Official website: josephbadalbooks.com.

Born in 1944 in Chicago and raised in Philadelphia, Joseph Badal received an undergraduate degree in International Finance from Temple University and an MBA from the University of New Mexico. He also graduated from the Defense Language Institute, West Coast, and from Stanford University Law School’s Director College. A well-known investor, he also served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer in Greece and in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, between 1967 and 1972 he was a US Army Captain. For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal (United States), and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Between 1981 and 1982, Joseph Badal was a New Mexico State Representative, in District 27, New Mexico House of Representatives. He is also the CEO of Joseph Badal & Associates, Inc., a financial and management consulting firm.

His career as a fiction writer has been heavily influenced by Robert Ludlum along with his own real-life experiences while serving in the army at home and abroad being involved in highly classified OPs, and with influences coming from his extensive knowledge of banking and financial service industries, where he worked for over 40 years.

His debut novel was The Pythagorean Solution, followed by Terror Cell, and then he created the Danforth Saga following Bob Danforth and his family. That series became his main place to write about military and spy thrillers, with stories featuring covert operations, terrorism, Greece, the Middle East, Europe, and threats against Western targets. Later he added two more series. The Lassiter/Martinez Case Files follows Albuquerque homicide detectives Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez solving New Mexico murder investigations, while the Curtis Chronicles begins with surgeon Matt Curtis and grows into a series about crime, revenge, former military contracts, and international plots about human trafficking.

So far, Joseph Badal has published 20 novels in his series and standalone novels. He also wrote short stories that appeared in anthologies. His latest book, Gone Forever, was released in June 2026, and The Reunion will be published in November 2025.

Joseph Badal is a member of The International Thrillers Writers, Sisters in Crime, Military Writers Society of America, Croak & Dagger, Public Safety Writers Association, and Southwest Writers Workshop. He is also a member of Outliers Writing University, which prides itself as being “a group of working, best-selling, award-winning authors who give back to the writing community by sharing their knowledge and experience.” The Joseph Badal Fiction Contest is an annual writing competition that celebrates fiction in the mystery and thriller genres is named after the popular author and has given awards to several new and emerging crime and thriller writers.

He lives in New Mexico and continues to write, teach writing classes, and speak to writers’ groups, book clubs, and civic organizations.

Awards and Honors

Awards

• Ultimate Betrayal – Tony Hillerman Award for Best Fiction Book of the Year (2014)
• The Motive – Tony Hillerman Award for Best Fiction Book of the Year (2016)
• The Lone Wolf Agenda – New Mexico/Arizona Book Award, Best Fiction (Mystery/Thriller) (2013)
• MWSA Writer of the Year (2020)
• ABQ the Magazine “Best Author” – 2023 and 2024

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