Mystery Authors and their series.

As a great reader of mysteries from an early age I have come across in my reading many,many authors of the Genre. Some are great, some are good and some should just be forgotten. I have several favorite authors and I am going to hopefully encourage my readers to check out a few of them. I have three particular authors whose books I re-read every year as a sort of comfort,return to old friends and a winter tradition. I am not a huge fan of "Cozy's" so these writers would also interest readers of the male persuasion. The three best,dare I say great authors alive today who write mysteries are Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr and James Lee Burke.  All three have strong protagonists with great back stories and the characters are so "fleshed out" and dimensional that they come alive and spring forth as the snakes did from Medusa's head. Each author also thoroughly knows the place and the history in which their character resides it's as if one were standing in the midst of the story. Descriptions are so very lyrical, detailed and evocative  that the reader (me) falls right into the book/s and does not come up for air until the last page is read.  Thankfully all three of the aforementioned authors are still alive which ensures that they will continue writing for the foreseeable future.  If you are a fan of a tightly written mystery with great characters,location,depth in writing and a well thought out plot these three writers should be at the top of your list.