Introducing a series utterly perfect for cozy fans of Alan Bradley, Alexander McCall Smith, and Louise Penny. The Reverend Tom "Father" Christmas, the newest vicar of Thornford Regis, an idyllic rural town in England, turns detective when one of his parishioners turns up dead in a drum, and everyone in town seems to have something to confess. Tom Christmas came to picturesque Thornford Regis with his young daughter to escape the terrible experience of losing his wife in the city. Her murder sent him packing to the bucolic and charming town, where violent crime isn't supposed to happen and the greatest sin is supposed to be nothing a member of the clergy can't handle. Then, at the town fair, a woman is found murdered. Tom soon learnsthat everyone in Thornford Regis has a secret to hide--infidelity, theft, even past murders. Twelve Drummers Drumming showcases a lovely place to live and/or die, and marks the debut of a planned twelve-book mystery series featuring the brilliant Father Christmas.

Casey Collins, a U.S. Foreign Service officer, is agonized when she learns that a bomb on a New York-bound flight from England has exploded after take-off--a flight on which she strongly suspects her lover, Stefan, was a passenger. Desperate to learn the truth, she flies to Europe to find out if Stefan, a Polish operative for Danish Defense Intelligence, has indeed been killed. Her investigation embroils her in unforeseen complications which paint her as a terrorist conspirator and a suspect in the bombing. Pursued by the agencies she had planned to rely on--the State Department, FBI, and Interpol--she becomes a fugitive. Her only allies are a motley assortment of renegade agents. Sent on a mission by these people whom she neither knows nor trusts, Casey hopes to unravel the web of deception she's wandered into--before she's completely ensnared.

The aforementioned series features a dozen drummers who vie to see who's the best in the Twelve Drummers Drumming competition. As a fundraising activity, the drummers all take part in a calendar. May we present...the 2021 series' companion calendar...

The ultimate guide to drumming styles by the co-author of the best-selling instructional book The Best Beginner Drum Book. Brandon Toews and Drumeo present... THE DRUMMER'S TOOLBOX! The Drummer's Toolbox presents drummers of all skill levels with the most comprehensive introduction to 100 different drumming styles from the past century. This ultimate guide includes more than 900 groove examples, as well as listening suggestions for 1000 recommended recordings. Throughout the book, drummers will also learn about the history of each drumming style, effective techniques for playing them, and how to break down different grooves limb-by-limb. The Drummer's Toolbox is for any drummer who's serious about expanding their musical vocabulary and becoming more versatile behind the drum-set. You will learn how to play: - Rock: Surf Rock, Progressive Rock, Punk Rock... - Jazz: 4/4 Swing, Up-Tempo Swing, Contemporary Jazz... - Blues: Texas Blues, Chicago Blues, Flat Tire Shuffle... - Country: Train Beat, Two-Step, Rockabilly... - Soul & Funk: Motown, Neo-Soul, New Orleans Funk... - Metal: Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Metalcore... - Electronic: Hip-Hop, Drum and Bass, Trap... - Afro-Cuban: Mambo, Nanigo, Songo... - Afro-Brazilian: Samba, Marcha, Bossa Nova... - Afro-Caribbean: Merengue, Reggae, Zouk... - And many more!

• A beautifully illustrated, new edition of a true holiday classic in an innovative Priddy format• Children will love to unfold the long, concertina page, which features sparkling foil throughout, to see and count all the gifts for the 12 Days of Christmas, from the single partridge in a pear tree right through to the twelve drummers drumming• The full 12 Days of Christmas song lyrics are reproduced in full, for parents or carers to read, sing and share with their young audience

For millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history. Artistic representations reveal that female frame drummers carried the spiritual traditions of many of the earliest recorded civilizations. During those ancient times, the drummer-priestesses held the keys to experience of the divine through rhythm. They were at the center of the goddess worship of matriarchal societies until the ascendance of patriarchal cultures and the loss of drumming as a spiritual technology. With wisdom and passion, Redmond chronicles our species’ deep connection to the drum, our rich heritage of inseparable spirituality and music, and the modern-day women reclaiming it. This book encourages readers—both women and men—to reestablish rhythmic links with themselves, nature, and other people through the power of drumming. Redmond illustrates her message with an extensive collection of images gathered during ten years of research and travel. Woven throughout the book are strands of ancient ritual and mythology, personal stories, and scientific evidence of the benefits of drumming. It is at once a history, a memoir, and a resounding call for spiritual and social renewal.

Naturalist Stephen Moss digs beneath the surface of some of our most popular Christmas carols in an ornithological celebration of the Festive Season. Using the structure of the carol as a jumping off point, he explores the place of twelve fascinating British birds in our history, culture and landscape. Some of the birds are obvious, there's the swan and of course the partridge. Other chapters are loose interpretations of a verse: for drummers drumming he delves into the woodpecker's distinctive drumming tap. Woodpeckers, he explains, have special padded skulls to mitigate against using its head like hammer drills. They carefully select dead trees for the most hollow, sonorous sound. With brilliant anecdotes and insights, Stephen Moss weaves history, culture, bird behaviour and folklore into a compelling narrative for each species, tracing its fortunes over the past two centuries. 'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham 'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily Mail