Recently I've been really into Jane Lindskold.  I started with and really really liked the first few Firekeeper novels.  Particularly I like Through Wolf's Eyes, which really set up the characters well. 

I love good characters and the Firekeeper novels have that in abundance.  The issue came with the latter novels (there are 6 total) when I feel the plot get a bit scattered and I didn't necessarily care what was going on any more.  That being said, characters were still great.  As I got into these books I decided to try some of her other books. 

Next, I tried Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls.  This is an urban sci-fi futuristic fantasy, which is not usually my thing.  Unsurprisingly, I didn't love it.  It was well written just not really perfect for me.  But, I decided to try another of her novels as I did enjoy the novels of firekeeper so much.  This got me to The Buried Pyramid, which I loved. 

Great characters and a great plot with lots of mystery.  The mystery doesn't seem to pushed either, which is always nice.  Its a kind of historical fiction fantasy hybrid.  I personally like that about the book, others might find it strange.  (If you do like it you may also want to try Socery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede, which is hysterically funny).  Then the breaking the wall series came out and I must say I love them more than the Firekeeper series.  The first book is called the Thirteen Orphans.

The characters are fantastic and the plot is rich and interesting.  Its a fantasy set in contemporary times, but done perfectly in my opinion.  The magical world of the character is based a lot on Chinese myth and moh-jong, which if interesting to read about in its own right.  The book actually takes place in the US.  I'm really enjoying the series and highly recommend them.   just finished the second book so I feel confidant in my recommendation of the series. 

If you like to read my actual reviews of these books you can over at LibraryThing.