Anne Rice got me hooked on vampire stories, so I'll always list her first and foremost on any vampire author list.
Though out of them all, I liked
Interview with a Vampire and
The Vampire Lestat the best.
Laurell K. Hamilton is always my second choice, though I too, have gotten tired of her sex with no main plot stories rampant within the last few of her books. Her newest ABvH novel,
The Harlequin is a return to the style of the early books, more mystery with just a dash of sex. Also, it returns one of my fave supporting characters, Edward the Assassin called Death. I would so love to read a standalone story on just him!
Charlaine Harris and her Southern Vampire Series featuring telepathic bar waitress Sookie Stackhouse are amazing. The writing is so real and so are the characters, and she adds a twist on the whole vampire mythos so you know this isn't some cheesy rip-off. I highly recomend this series (and the hunky Quinn and Eric) yum!
Robin McKinley's only vampire novel so far,
Sunshine is truly amazing. I read it at bootcamp and I was hooked. It is such a totally different look at the vamp mythos, and her vamps are scary yet at the same time in a believable way. They truly are the monsters and not the romanticized predators they are in most fiction.
Sherrilyn Kenyon is also a good author, though I've only read one of her Dark Hunter series and it was one in the middle at that! (oops on my part). It was a good read, and absolutely hilarious as her heroine wasn't afraid to stand up for herself or her desires (the fact that her vampire interest could shapeshift into a cat and that she was allergic to felines and, incidentally, his hair was so funny) despite the fact that she could easily be pounded into the ground. And Ms. Kenyon isn't ashamed to make her characters hurt, or die, which puts a realism on it that is shocking but refreshing.
And I'm surprised that none of you have listed him yet, but
Bram Stoker's Dracula was the novel that started the modern vampire literature of the century. There's nothing like the classics.