Briefly Noted | Chapter 16

The Last Witness

Glenn Meade

Howard Books
432 pages
$25

“Meade’s second foray into international intrigue imagines that Nazis biding time in South America hatch a viable plot to take over contemporary Germany. The novel opens with a splendidly tantalizing episode of eavesdropping by a Paraguayan reporter who, before he’s caught and killed, hides a tell-tale tape recording. . . . Fast, sly, and slick, this thriller delivers the goods—tension, action, plot twists—until the smoke clears on the last page.”

–Booklist

Being Sloane Jacobs

Lauren Morrill

Delacorte Press
352 pages
$17.99

“Rather than skating on the surface of a time-honored plot twist, Morrill portrays each Sloane with the grit to cross-train in a new skating sport, the perseverance to withstand the competitors’ bullying and high jinks, the honesty to be true to new friends or at least struggle in the challenge, and the grace to respect each other’s futures. As the Sloanes’ Prince and the Pauper/Parent Trap switcheroo unravels, they come together with friends and families for a sweet and satisfying resolution.”

–Booklist

Knowing Daniel

Mick Jett

Martin Sisters Publishing
400 pages
$19.95

“Mick Jett knows how to capture his audience. In Knowing Daniel, he takes his readers back in time to early America where we meet Daniel, our main character. A good-natured, but adventure-driven father, Jacob, leaves Daniel and his loving, protective mother in the town along the caravan trail where he was born. A plot borne of envy starts from the very beginning capturing the interest of the readers and leading them down a long ride of adventure and life-changing decisions for Daniel and his companions.”

–The Tallahassee Democrat

Hood’s Tennessee

James R. Knight

The History Press
208 pages
19.99

“The Tennessee Campaign of November and December 1864 was the Southern Confederacy’s last significant offensive operation of the Civil War. General John Bell Hood of the Confederate Army of Tennessee attempted to capture Nashville, the final realistic chance for a battlefield victory against the Northern juggernaut. Hood’s former West Point instructor, Major General George Henry Thomas, led the Union force, fighting those who doubted him in his own army as well as Hood’s Confederates. “

–From the Publisher

Undistorted God

Ray Waddle

Abingdon Press
192 pages
$15.99

“Ray Waddle encourages us to find meaning inside, sometimes despite, the contentious times we live in. He helps readers see through spiritual insecurity and distraction to see God in new places: in the sky, in writing, in walking, in music, in memory, in Gospel reading, the bread and wine, worship, the very name Jesus—and get beneath social habits or routine theological assumptions in order to find a fresh core of epiphany.”

–From the Publisher

Buttermilk and Bible Burgers

Fred W. Sauceman

Mercer University Press
195 pages
$21

“Traversing Appalachia from an Italian kitchen in Pennsylvania to a soda shop in South Carolina, BUTTERMILK AND BIBLE BURGERS is a tribute to people loyal to the land and proud of their culinary heritage. Sauceman describes the common bond of breaking beans, the dignity of the barbecue pit, the nobility of the black-iron skillet, and the transformative power of a glass of Tennessee buttermilk.”

–From the Publisher