Morality Play, by Barry Unsworth (Penguin, £5.99 in UK)

Few novels strike one as perfect, but there is more than a hint of perfection about Barry Unsworth's little jewel of a story, shortlisted for the 1995 Booker prize, about a wayward - young cleric who joins a group of travelling players who get mixed up in a murder and, in the process, unwittingly invent modern drama. So thoroughly is it saturated in its 14th century setting that the dialogue and descriptive detail flow with astounding naturalness; but its use of the conventions of detective fiction is brilliantly contemporary.