I would recommend David Dwyer and Mark Gruenwald's "Precalculus" from Brooks/Cole. I taught using their previous book "College Algebra and Trigonometry", and the new book is a subset better suited to a one semester course. I picked their text because it is very strong at modeling the effective use of calculators and has realistic applications.

Please take a look at Demana, Waits, Foley, and Kennedy. The authors have tried to do what you look for within the constraints of trying to include the curricular pieces state education agencies seek.

I have a vague memory of a text by Ethan Bolker called "Using Algebra" being pretty nice, but I don't remember it well enough to say whether it would be appropriate as a stand-alone text for precalculus or if it would only be a good source of problems.

I like: Functions Modeling Change: A Preparation for Calculus, 2nd Edition (by Connally, Deborah Hughes-Hallett, et. al.) I haven't taught a course from this book, but I have used parts of it in various courses and as a reference. There are no explicit references to research findings, but there is definite sensitivity to the things that are typically difficult for students. Also, the focus on families of functions seems to me to be the best kind of preparation for calculus-- rather than seeing pre-calc is an opportunity to acquire a bag of random advanced algebra tricks.

The book mentioned above (Connally, Hughes-Hallett, et. al.) is the pre-calc book from the Harvard Calculus Reform Project series. We have used the series for quite a few years now at our University. We like it and we are staying with it. The one thing that I would prefer, and I do make this change when I am teaching the course, would be to introduce the trig functions through right triangles (the old traditional way), rather than through the ferris wheel. But it is a minor matter, check it out, it is a good book.