With a raspy voice and a New York accent, Heather Headley is a Trinidad-born Broadway star set to release her third album, her first gospel recording, Jan. 13, 2009.

Headley has appeared in starring roles in Broadway shows like The Lion King and the Tim Rice-Elton John version of Aida, and is now set to release Audience of One, a return to her gospel roots.

Third Day’s Christmas Offerings climbed back to the top spot of the SoundScan Christian/Gospel music Christian retail chart for sales the week ending Dec. 7, while The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media/EMI CMG Distribution) debuted atop the Christian Videos list.

Christmas Offerings was followed by: 2. Peace on Earth by Casting Crowns (Beach Street Records/Provident-Integrity Distribution); 3. Wow Hits 2009 by various artists (Wow Gospel/Provident-Integrity); 4. A New Hallelujah by Michael W. Smith (Reunion Records/Provident-Integrity); 5. It’s a Wonderful Christmas by Michael W. Smith (Reunion Records/Provident-Integrity); 6. Speaking Louder Than Before by Jeremy Camp (BEC Recordings/EMI CMG); 7. The Altar and the Door by Casting Crowns (Beach Street Records/Provident-Integrity); 8. Revelation by Third Day (Essential Records/Provident-Integrity); 9. The Christmas Collection by Amy Grant (Sparrow Records/EMI CMG); and 10. Hello Love by Chris Tomlin (sixstepsrecords/EMI CMG).

Publishers are looking to feed the growing appetite for Christian fiction with some additional takeaway value. Several new and recently released books feature recipes that allow readers to literally chew over what they have read.

Among the authors serving up the extras is best-selling Amish drama writer Wanda E. Brunstetter, who recently completed a taste-test book tour in support of White Christmas Pie—released in September by Barbour Publishing.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (Knopf) by former best-selling vampire novelist Anne Rice was named among the top Christian fiction of 2008 by Library Journal in its annual Best Books list.

The other Christian novels recognized were Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney (David C. Cook) and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke (Moody Publishers) as well as Embrace Me by Lisa Samson and Trouble the Water by Nicole Seitz (both Thomas Nelson).

After field-testing the resource in five stores this fall, CBA is rolling out a new tool that equips Christian retailers to refine their inventory mix for maximum profitability. The service is being backed by Tyndale House Publishers, which says the system can be a big help to Christian retailers.

Custom Inventory Accelerator (CIA) uses a store’s current inventory data overlaid with aggregate CROSS:SCAN information on products with “demonstrated consumer demand,” identifying slow-moving inventory that needs to be returned or removed as well as strong-performing products, the booksellers association said.

In a continuing sign of the sliding economy, sales of religious books fell a quarter in October, while all book categories were down 20% for the month, according to the Association of American Publishers.

The month’s sales for religious books were $57.1 million, down 25.6%, while the category’s sales were down 11.5% for the year. Sales of religious books also decreased 11.8% and 10.8% for the months of September and August, respectively.

A bilingual Bible with two columns—the Nueva Biblia al Día (NBD) translation on one side and the New Century Version (NCV) on the other—will launch from Grupo Nelson, Thomas Nelson’s Spanish division, Feb. 3.

Biblia bilingüe NBD (978-1-602-55181-7, $39.99) includes the thought-for-thought Spanish translation of the Bible published by Grupo Nelson in September. The NBD, produced by the International Bible Society, is an updated version of Biblia al Día, published in Spanish in 1979 and based on The Living Bible. The NCV is a revision of the International Children’s Bible, completed in 1991.

“This is the first easy-to-read bilingual Bible—great for ministry and for people learning a second language,” Sam Rodríguez, associate publisher of Grupo Nelson, told Christian Retailing. “It’s also the only bilingual Bible out there that has a bilingual concordance.”