I'm poking my nose in here for the first time, looking for some author recommendations, and I’m not sure if this is really the right forum, but it seems like the most likely fit, so …

My reading diet has been almost exclusively historical (fiction and non-fiction) for the past couple years.  Over the years, I’ve also enjoyed and kept a few older contemporary thriller types. (At least, I think they’d be classified as such.) Specifically, Allen Drury, Robert Ludlum, Michael Crichten, and Tom Clancy.  I’m in the mood to read something more along these lines, but you’ll note that three of the four are dead, and Clancy hasn’t written a novel in years.  So … given who I’ve liked in the past, could someone recommend a current author I might enjoy?  Thanks so much!

Added: It might also help to mention a few that I've tried and didn't go back for more: Grisham, Cussler.

I enjoy Clancy and Ludlum as well.  However, I have only read a few of their books, so I still have more to go before I start looking for new authors.

 Have you tried Steve Berry? I love the two books I have read by him so far. His books mix a blend of history in with a spy type suspense. For example, in The Romanov Prophecy, it was about a guy caught up in a scandal left over from the Romanov family's execution. There is a lot of action as he is chased across Russia and America.

Have you read John Le Carré?  His books (the best of them anyway) are superb.  And Graham Greene's spy books are just fantastic.  Stamboul Train and Our Man in Havana are both terrific.  You also might like Martin Cruz Smith who writes books based in Russia.

You might to try  Joseph Wambaugh , Jack Higgins,  David Baldacci, Vince Flynn just to name a  few.

Catherine Coulter has a good series of FBI books.  There are several of them and she has another one coming out in June or August.

Here's a neat tool that will help you find similar authors.

http://literature-map.com/

You could try Nelson DeMille.  He writes some pretty good espionnage/thriller type books.

I like James Rollins,  especially his Sigma Six series.  But his standalone books are just as good.  I just get caught up in characters and like to see them return.   He is action/thriller/mystery  with a little archeological/mysticism thrown in. 

Another author that I have started to read is Matthew Reilly.  I have read 3 of his novels,  and have enjoyed them.  He is also along the lines of action/thriller 

The writing team of Doug Preston and Lincoln Child I also enjoy.  Especially their series with Agent Pendergast, which is a mystery/thriller

Also the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.  Another mystery/thriller that follows former MP Jack Reacher who seems to be in the wrong place at the right time to get involved in mystery and mayhem.

You can also have a look at the Stop, You're Killing Me! website. You can look up books by subject matter and time period. There is also a "similar authors" link. Check the links on the left side.

Thanks, folks.  You've given me somewhere to start looking. :)