When you get to this point, it's time to take a look at mystery reference books.
First, check out your library's reference section. You can usually find a set of What Do I Read Next?: A Reader's Guide to Current Genre Fiction, Fantasy, Western, Romance, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction. This book is updated annually, reflecting new books published each year. Each annual book is divided by genre, such as mystery, romance, etc., then further divided by category. The latest novels are identified and described. You can look up your favorite author and find a selection of similar books.
You might also find What Mystery Do I Read Next? : A Reader's Guide to Recent Mystery Fiction by Steven Stilwell. This is a spinoff of the What Do I Read Next? series. It compiles entries from the mystery titles published between 1989 and 1998. As in the parent series, bibliographic information, series, subgenre, series characters, locale, time period, plot summary, and a list of five similar titles are listed. Since the parent volume is updated every year, information about books by a single author tends to be scattered throughout several volumes. This book brings all of that information together.
To start your own home mystery reference section, I recommend Detecting Women, 3rd Edition, and Detecting Men, both by Willetta L. Heising.
Detecting Women, 3rd Edition, subtitled "A Reader's Guide and Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women", begins with a master list of 690 author entries. Each entry contains an author profile, series character, and book titles in order of publication. Books receiving nominations or awards are shown in bold type. In Chapter 2, a total of 815 mystery series are subdivided into four groups - private eye, police procedural, espionage and traditional. The traditional category has been broken down into background type, such as academic, animals, black, gay/lesbian, historical humor, medical, paranormal, to name just a few. There are over 50 background types. In Chapter 3, the series characters are listed in alphabetical order by character's first name. A very handy tool when you remember the character's name but not the author's! Chapter 4 provides a breakdown by setting, such as country or state. In Chapter 5, all 3,777 series titles are listed by year, then by author's last name. Chapter 6 provides an alpha listing by book title. A list of pseudonyms and a list of book nomination and awards are also included.
