Finding New Authors to Read

I was at a family birthday party this past weekend and some of us got to talking about books, our favorite authors, and new authors we'd just started reading and how we came to hear about them.

Some of us found them by chance either at the book store or at the library. We were intrigued by the cover or title, picked the book off the shelf, read the back cover, and decided it sounded pretty good. Some of us received a book by an author unknown to us as a gift or as a raffle prize, or as a free digital download. Some of us started reading certain authors because of recommendations by friends and family. This last one is kind of tricky because reading is so subjective. For example, one cousin loves Robert Parker's books while I have a hard time reading his work. Loved the Spencer for Hire series when it was on TV though.

At the end of the party, we all had a few new authors to read that we hadn't heard of before or if we had, we just never picked up any of their books. Me, I'll be looking for books by J.J. Cook (mystery), Kristin Hannah (who I've heard of, but have never read), Lee Hollis (mystery), HelenKay Dimon (romantic suspense), Mary Burton (suspense), Marie Force (the Fatal series - suspense), Samantha Young (contemporary romance), and Sara Arden (contemporary romance).

How do you find new authors to read? Recommendations from friends and family? Reviews in newspapers and/or magazines? Word of mouth buzz? Perusing the bookstore aisles?