Greetings from Austin, Texas, where the temperature gauge in my car read 112 degrees yesterday. Now we love to live outdoors but this time of year it’s just too darn hot to do much of anything! But the bookshelves at the Austin Thrift Town location are just what I needed to combat my heat-induced lethargy. Nothing sounds better right now than air-conditioning, a cold glass of iced tea, and a hot thriller of a paperback.

There’s an extensive book section in Austin’s Thrift Town, all Thrift Town’s actually– hardbacks, paperbacks, kids’ books and even a big selection of current magazines. And since August 9 is National Book Lover’s Day, let me tell you about three favorite thriller authors who will keep you riveted until the next cold front comes through.

Author Linda Fairstein is a former New York prosecuting attorney (she ran the Sex Crimes Unit in Manhattan for a quarter of a century) who writes what she knows. Her Alexander Cooper series features a smart and savvy Manhattan assistant DA solving creepy crimes that often take her up and down the eastern seaboard, if not across the country. NYPD detectives make regular appearances including the smart-mouthed Mike Chapman, and plots often unfold midst well-known NYC landmarks and restaurants. I especially enjoyed Cold Hit, maybe because of the title, set against Manhattan’s glitzy art scene. Start with her first novel – Final Jeopardy – to track Alex’s career and relationships.

Robert Crais’ novels feature Elvis Cole, a wise-cracking, case-cracking private detective in L.A. with a penchant for Disney characters and the modest moniker of World’s Greatest Detective. When the going gets tough (and it does, this series isn’t for the squeamish), Elvis calls on his friend and sometimes partner Joe Pike, the silent, contemplative Yang to Elvis’ Yin. Some Crais novels feature Pike as the central character but at some point in every story the two connect to save clients and each other from grave danger. You don’t have to read them in order but books often refer to people or events from previous novels. The first Elvis Cole novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, is a classic.

On the lighter side, you’ll love Stephanie Plum – the slightly ditzy bounty hunter in New Jersey caught between two sexy men, with a weasel of a boss, a crazy family, a former “lady of the night” for a partner, and a bad habit of getting whatever car she’s driving at the moment blown to smithereens. Janet Evanovitch writes this laugh-out-loud “numbered” series beginning with One for the Money. Read them in order and enjoy Stephanie’s on-again, off-again relationship with detective Joe Morelli and bad-boy distraction, Ranger.

It’s so much fun to find a friend who hasn’t read one of these series and Thrift Town lets me pick up one or two books to give as gifts to get someone started. And at these prices, you can afford to give them away! Prices at just a fraction of retail – all eleven books in the first photo? $21. So get your bag of books, a pitcher of iced tea, crank the AC and enjoy the heat!

Stephanie F. is a dedicated thrifter whose mantra is, “Buy used - there’s just too much stuff in the world!” She became hooked when she found a pair of sock hop saddle shoes in junior high that she could actually afford with her allowance money (hey, it was a RETRO sock hop!). Today she lives and works in Texas’ capital city doing her part to “Keep Austin Weird.” She’s the author of an Austin blog – The Thrifty Snicker – which lets her prowl local thrift stores while telling herself that it’s not shopping, it’s research.