Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Captain Lewrie Commands Again

Dewey Lambdin’s new naval adventure takes its swashbuckling hero to Gibraltar

By Ralph Bowden | May 23, 2014

May 23, 2014 When last seen, Captain Alan Lewrie had suffered a serious leg wound. In Dewey Lambdin’s twentieth series installment, The King’s Marauder, Lewrie must recover and then coax a new commission out of the admiralty. Along the way, as always, he introduces readers to a colorful cast of characters and a wealth of information about the life of a British navy captain during the early years of the nineteenth century.

The Old Man And The Sequel

Edgar finalist Daniel Friedman resurrects hilarious octogenarian cop Buck Schatz

By Liz Garrigan | May 21, 2014

May 21, 2014 When last we heard from retired Memphis Police Detective Baruch “Buck” Schatz, the hysterical Jewish octogenarian in Daniel Friedman’s 2012 debut novel, Don’t Ever Get Old, he was taking a break from watching Fox News, considering his bowel progress, and smoking Lucky Strikes while an escaped Nazi war criminal tried to kill him. Friedman will discuss the book’s sequel, Don’t Ever Look Back, at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on May 27, 2014, at 6 p.m., and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 1, 2014, at 2 p.m.

The Other War

In her new novel, Jennifer Chiaverini examines the political rivalries in Civil War Washington

By Faye Jones | May 15, 2014

May 15, 2914 Jennifer Chiaverini continues her portraits of Civil War women in her latest novel, Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival, which features Kate Chase Sprague, the daughter of Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury. Chiaverini will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on May 22, 2014, at 6 p.m.

A Comedy of Vices

In her fourth memoir, comedian Chelsea Handler recounts her visits to far-flung destinations, making fun of everything along the way

By Sarah Norris | May 14, 2014

May 14, 2014 Uganda Be Kidding Me is the fourth memoir by Chelsea Handler, comedian and (until recently) host of the late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately. The new book offers exuberant accounts of Handler’s exotic travels, along with a healthy dose of Handler’s First World problems (like feeling fat in Botswana), and is rife with the comedian’s trademark R-rated humor. Chelsea Handler will appear at Peter Nappi in Nashville on May 17, 2014, at 2 p.m.

Good Girl, Bad Girl

Writers grapple with their most memorable foibles in the new essay collection, Southern Sin

By Emily Choate | May 12, 2014

May 12, 2014 Southern Sin: True Stories of the Sultry South and Women Behaving Badly, an essay collection edited by Lee Gutkind and Beth Ann Fennelly, is about blowing it, betraying loved ones, sleeping with the wrong people, breaking the law, and, most importantly, having the nerve to fess up. In the South, this is not as easy as it may seem.

This Is Not an Anthropology Lesson

Tupelo Honey Cafe pays delicious tribute to food—and life—in the Mountain South

By Emily Choate | May 8, 2014

May 8, 2014 Tupelo Honey Cafe made a name for itself in Asheville, North Carolina, by bringing a spirit of adventure to a range of traditional Appalachian recipes. Now that Tupelo Honey has expanded throughout the Mountain South—including several Tennessee locations—head chef Brian Sonoskus has partnered with writer Elizabeth Sims to create a collection of recipes and stories that highlight regional dishes. Sonoskus will sign copies of Tupelo Honey Cafe at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on May 16, 2014, at 5 p.m.

The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History

By Allen Boyer and Mark Nicholls
Routledge
340 pages
$180

The book “explores the reasons why treason coalesced around specific offences agreed by both the monarch and the wider political nation, why it became an essential instrument of enforcement in high politics, and why, over the past three hundred years, it has gradually fallen into disuse while remaining on the statute book.”

~the publisher