A Word in Your Ear: The Light of Day, The Snow Geese

Graham Swift's The Light of Day (Penguin, 3.25 hrs, £9.99) is a brilliantly constructed novel: rarely has suspense been better sustained. The listener only gradually understands what has happened; who is hero and who villain. Or thinks they do. George, a failed cop turned private eye, is hired by a wronged wife to follow her husband and see if he really does, as promised, take his mistress to the airport and say goodbye to her forever. When the man is murdered, it seems an open and shut case; only the wife could have done it. But why does the private eye visit her in prison every week of her long sentence? As the plot unfolds, we realise he has had his own troubles with infidelity, which affect how he sees the case. First-person novels are exceptionally involving when read aloud, and Kenneth Cranham is superb as George, puzzled, tender and menacing by turn.

William Fiennes's The Snow Geese (2hrs, Macmillan, £9.99) is a documentary homage to Paul Gallico's famous novel, The Snow Goose. Fiennes was so fascinated that he decided to follow the flight of the geese across the American continent, and write about his travels. It's told with extraordinary eloquence. To hear every word, go for the unabridged version read by Steve Godden (Isis, £16.99, mail order 0800 371 5637, www.isis-publishing.co.uk), but I found Jonathan Firth's fresh, lyrical reading better suited to Fiennes's prose.