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I'm seeing so many familiar names on this page (and enjoyed names!), I have to add a few...
If you liked Mary Stewart, INCLUDING her mystery-romance ones (the ones contemporary to when she was writing, like "Moonspinners" and "Nine Coaches Waiting" and "Touch Not The Cat" or "This Rough Magic"), then you'll probably also enjoy the flavor and writing of Georgette Heyer's mystery-romance ones (the ones contemporary to when SHE was writing, not the historical-romance ones). Just... one warning... stay away from "Penhallow". I don't know what was up with that one, but while I've adored EVERYTHING else by her, that one.... ugh. Hee hee, but you are missing out if you've not encounted "Death in the Stocks" or "Why Shoot a Butler?" or "Duplicate Death"!
Anyhow, they are both favorites
Also, for the sci-fi afficianado, Lois McMaster Bujold! I cannot say it enough! I can't even decide which is my favorite, because even within the same series some of the books are practically different genres... "Mountains of Mourning" is a coming-of-age story or maybe a social-justice story but it's also sci-fi only the setting feels almost historical. "Civil Campaign" is a comedy of manners, a bumbling-romance farce with a backdrop of deadly serious political intrigue -but also sci-fi. "The Vor Game" is military sci-fi, "Cetaganda" is a spy-thriller sci-fi.... I can go on forever. I adore her books!
For the fantasy fan, especially those of you who like Megan Whaleen Turner and Tamora Pierce, please try Patricia Wrede, especially her "Frontier Magic" trilogy and her Enchanted Forest chronicles (warning: the third book ends on a... not quite cliff-hanger, but a very unsatisfying moment. You'll want to have the fourth book handy when you finish, even if the fourth book can stand entirely on its own).
For the fantasy fan who enjoys a more lyrical and involved prose, a couple more favorites are Robin McKinley (especially "Spindle", "Chalice", "Rose Daughter", "Beauty", and "Shadows") and Patricia McKillip (especially "The Changeling Sea", "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld", "The Book of Atrix Wolfe", "Winter Rose", "Alphabet of Thorn" and "The Tower at Stony Wood").
For the fantasy fan who enjoys prose somewhere between those last two sets of authors, an old classic favorite is Andre Norton -I grew up reading those books and adored them, so much! Especially the Witch World series, and "The BeastMaster/Lord of Thunder" duo -if you've seen that old show, I ASSURE you the books are quite different, and of rather better quality!- "Forerunner Foray", "Flight to Yiktor", "Octagon Magic", "Mark of the Cat".... oh, she's so prolific it's hard to pick out only a few favorites. >.<
For the Urban Fantasy fan, I'm exceedingly fond of the October Daye series by Seanan McGuirre, the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs (if you like other fantasies, she's also got some great ones in that genre; notably "When Demons Walk" (has a ridiculously high laughter quotient), the Hurog duo ("Dragonbones" and "Dragonblood"), the Masques set "Masques" and "Wolfsbane", and the Raven duo "Raven's Shadow"/"Raven's Strike"), the Ilona Andrews everything -they have one series which seems to follow the parallel universes idea, our world is called "The Broken" because magic doesn't work in it, "The Edge" is the transition lands and then there's a full-magic world on the other side. They also have a duo about a magical Innkeeper, and a just-starting series called "Hidden Legacies" and a best-selling series starring Kate Daniels (mostly) which is about as traditionally "urban-fantasy" as that genre gets.
For those who want a little more Noir flavor in their Urban Fantasy, the Matthew Swift books (I especially enjoyed "Midnight Mayor") by Kate Griffin, the Nightside books by Simon R Green, and the famous Dresden books by Jim Butcher.
Other authors whose works I follow assiduously are Laurie R. King (contemporary and historical mystery-thrillers, with the historical ones being of the Sherlockiana variety), oh but speaking of more traditional mysteries, please say you all already are familiar with the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy Parker? And the Ngaio Marsh series starring Detective Alleyn?
Er, where was I though? Laurie R King! Right! Her turns of phrase are exquisite, and I love the excellent little details she slips into the historical ones especially; of her modern works I think "To Play the Fool" was the one that had the most impact on me.
Elizabeth Lowell does contemporary suspense-romance ones, and I enjoy how every book seems to have some theme as a background -a specific art field, or the gem trade, or how international kidnapping rings work, or pearl farming, or whatever- and it's so fascinating! Also her characters seem very... very REAL to me. Not the caricatures which serve as a cardboard prop to the more important plot/world/whatever, but like the driving force behind the whole story, and ones you can imagine meeting in your day-to-day life.
On the opposite end of that scale, another favorite author is Shelly Laurenston/G.A.Aiken (same person, different series so different pseudonyms) whose characters I find incredibly unlikely, and whose world I can't begin to believe in, but whose works I adore anyhow.
Because they are Just. That. Funny.
Oh, heavens, the DIALOGUE! Hoo boy! I once laughed so hard I fell off my bus seat...
Oh! Who was it who liked JR Ward? Have you tried Meljean Brooks' "Guardian" series? (I actually like her steampunk books better, but that's just me) And you'd also probably really enjoy Nalini Singh's stuff! Especially the Archangel series (I love the vampire Janvier and his sneaky and hilarious way of courting Ashwini), but if you aren't opposed to were/shifter books, then the Psy/Changeling series also.
I know there are more authors on my "auto-buy" list, if I can just remember them.
(Going back to sci-fi, Gordon Dickson played with some very interesting concepts; I especially liked "The R-Master". However, he was writing quite a few decades ago, in a very different cultural background, so if you're looking for strong female characters you'll be disappointed. It's nearly all men.)
OH! Current thrillers/suspense novels! The Lee Child "Jack Reacher" series, of course, although I tend to wait and buy those books used rather than new, and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child's collaborative works in the Prendergast series -I know they do individual novels as well, but I find the quality of those is not quite up to the same standard-. Hm. I liked the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels by Robert Crais, but I haven't checked in a while to see about new ones, I should catch up on those! Some are definitely better than others in that series, same with the Lee Child ones (beware of the ones that ditch chronology; they tend to be choppy and without good transitions and throw you out of the story; typically also the 3rd person voice ones are superior to the 1st person ones; he does a much better job of building tension when he's not stuck in his protagonist's head -which makes sense, since that character is built around the notion of not reacting to fear in the usual manner, and is trained to be calm in a crisis anyhow, lol- )
Universally good but terrifying to your world-view, the John Rain novels by Barry Eisler are not to be missed! Be warned, the main character is a professional assassin -and somehow will bring you to be sympathetic with him. An interesting moral standpoint to find yourself in.
Er, where was I?
Writing a novel of praise to various authors. Maybe I should stop. >.<
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