MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long

THE GOOD LIARS by Anita Frank (HQ, £16.99) takes place a couple of years after the end of World War I, when the Stilwells of Darkacre Hall can only dream of the life they knew before.
Once respected and deferred to, today they are openly shunned by the villagers. They live a lifeless existence, bound to each other by shameful secrets and mutual mistrust.
The difficulty of hiring servants means they are even reduced to answering their own doorbell — an especially distasteful task when the visitor is a detective asking impertinent questions about the summer of 1914.

Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller

MAT COWARD sings the praises of the Giant Winter’s full-depth, earthy and ferrous flavour perfect for rich meals in the dark months

The heroism of the jury who defied prison and starvation conditions secured the absolute right of juries to deliver verdicts based on conscience — a convention which is now under attack, writes MAT COWARD

As apple trees blossom to excess it remains to be seen if an abundance of fruit will follow. MAT COWARD has a few tips to see you through a nervy time