Brian Parker

Each author gives the mystery genre his or her own twist, with results from humorous to the macabre. In This Lightning Always Strikes Twice, you will visit with a teacher tutoring a young woman who gets caught up in the machinations of her dysfunctional family; in the Thirteenth Day of Christmas, a couple is attempting to enjoy their Christmas holiday, but keep getting interrupted by the escalating intrusions and threats of their son, a recovering...

Know-It-All Jazz takes readers from the African-American roots and all the way to the global mix of styles and performers in today's jazz scene. Along the way, it looks at the shape, style, and instruments of the discipline, key personalities and recordings in the jazz canon, and, finally, at what might be expected next from this most diverse of musical forms. Punchy and engaging entries help readers understand the basics in under a minute, ensuring...