There are quite a few on this list starting with mainstream greats like Patricia Cornwell, I remember reading her first Scarpetta novel Postmortem - it totally blew mw away and got me hooked on crime thrillers. Alongside scarpetta there has to be the Frieda Klein series by Nikki French brilliant series, such an amazing character - its all about what she doesnt say when she's conducting her investigations.
Lesfic wise I really love Elizabeth Sims Lillian Byrd series, mystery, comedy and romance all rolled into one. Quickly followed by Ann McMan's Jericho series, The Big Tow, Hoosier Daddy - such a great cast of characters that make you feel part of the story.
Then there are certain authors that are my go to authors for a guaranteed great read, these include Clare Ashton, Diana kane, Gillian Flynn, R E Bradshaw, Rachel Spangler and Eliza Lentzski, Camryn Eyde, Andrea Bramhall, Lyn Gardner, MJ Duncan to name just a few.

I am currently working on a couple WIP's at the moment, cant say too much about those yet.
I've also got my eye on Payback III, after completing Obscured which is a tie-in to the Payback series I have some new characters to introduce to Helen and Lexi.

Usually thinking about writing, how I can improve or twist a certain story line to add more tension.
I also watch a lot of movies, like writers I have some go to directors like Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs) I just watched The French Dispatch and loved it. I also watch a lot of world cinema - Park Chan-wook's vengeance trilogy, Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder, Mother, Parasite. Visual movies always pique my interest and Chinese movies really have that going on - Farewell My Concubine, Chungking Express, Hero, Eat Drink Man Woman, House of Flying Daggers, Raise The Red Lantern I could go on for ever here, I haven even touched on European directors yet...

I read quite a few blogs which is how I discovered the Manon Bradshaw books by Susie Steiner, amazing british police procedurals with a main character that has an engaging dark sense of humor.

Well it usually starts with a hint of an idea and characters followed by reams and reams of research which is an enjoyable part for me as it allows me to really understand the detail behind the story. I can then weave all the details into the characters.

I try and settle on an image that hints at the content but obviously isn't a spoiler, I'm quite a visual person so the final image is quite important to me I need to like it and of course it needs to be eye-catching. I like using photo's as a starting point then mess around with it in terms of effects until it matches the image in my head.