Top Ten Tuesday 10.16.12

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's Top Ten is Top Ten Favorite Authors In X Genre. And I'm picking my top ten favorite historical fiction authors!

1. Kate Morton - I'm not sure if she's considered a historical fiction author, but all four of her novels have had a part of the story set in the past. She is an auto-read author for me. All I need to know is if she's coming out with a new book, I don't even know what it's about.
2. Jennifer Donnelly - Both her Tea Rose trilogy and her young adult historical fiction books are favs. She's another auto-read for me. Fantastic story-teller.
3. Susanna Kearsley - Her books Marianna, The Winter Sea and The Rose Garden are three of my favorite books ever. They're all time-slip books, and they are told oh so well. The time-slips are almost believable.
4. Deanna Raybourn - Her Lady Julia historical mystery series is probably my favorite currently written historical mystery series. I just love both Lady Julia and Brisbane, and it's very rare for me to love both the female and male characters in a mystery series, because usually one of them gets on my nerves. Not the case here!
5. Lauren Willig - The Pink Carnation mystery series is so unique and well-written. There have been nine books in the series, so far, with book ten coming out next year. The series has yet to lose momentum, and I have never not wanted to read the next book coming out in the series.
6. C.S. Harris - Oye, another historical mystery writer. In this case, we're talking about the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, which is one intelligently written series. Ever since book three, the stories have been getting grittier and more complex. The character development is also some of the best I've read.
7. Elizabeth Chadwick - I admit, medieval times is not amongst my favorite time periods, but Elizabeth Chadwick manages to write medieval historical fiction that not only keeps my attention, but makes the times completely understandable for me.
8. Jude Morgan - So far, I've read three of his books: Indiscretion,  Charlotte and Emily, and Passion, and I just can't stop talking about any of them. And they're all so different from each other; one is a humorous Regency; one is an melodrama about the Bronte family; and the other is a tome about the Romantic Poets. All are well done.

And while this is my favorite genre, I can't think of two more authors that I would consider favorites. I have to read more than one book by an author to be able to call them that.