Who can tell me ...........

Could it be the series by James Oswald? Sorry, cannot think of the titles. There is a bit of a ghostly element in them too.

Well spotted Alima!! I am in awe of your encyclopaedic knowledge (or use of Amazon/Google)
I agree these sound like the Inspector McLean series by James Oswald. Looking back on my Kindle I seem to have 4 of them but he has written 6 or 7. I feel a download coming on as I really enjoyed them.

Ha, ha! It was a toss up between McLean and Jackson Brodie but he was left a house by an elderly lady.

Sounds like something I'd enjoy. Trouble is, I lack Alima's ability to remember what I've read already and share Billy Connelly's professed ability (?) to be half way through a book before it dawns on me I've read it begins.

Often, after downloading my free sample, upon deciding to purchase the book, my Kindle will inform me that I've 'already purchased this book in June 2015'!

Does this happen to others?

Amazon doesnt always work,
On reading this desc I had a look on Amazon and though I thought I had read it there was no You bought this message. However a search of my orders brought it up. Good books

I started keeping a log of each book I have read over 30 years ago and it's still going strong. If I hadn't done I could be reading the same books over and over again!

I started a log just a couple of years ago and even so can barely remember what most of the books on my list were about!

I love detective stories and don't know this series.

Can other Gransnetters recommend other detective novels/series that they have enjoyed, please?

I really enjoyed the three books by Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) - a misfit detective in some gritty situations. They are called: Cuckoos Calling, The Silkworm and A Career of Evil.

I keep track of the books I've read using the website Goodreads.

I rarely remember what I have read until I am at least halfway through it for the second, or maybe even subsequent times. When asked if I have read something, I am usually deliberately vague, as I really don't remember. Since most of my reading matter comes from charity shops or swapping with friends, I really can't get over-excited about this state of affairs.

I too rarely remember books I've read, titles are never familiar. I go to the library armed with a list of favourite authors as I can't remember them either! I also try and buy books on my Kindle that I've already purchased.

I like Mary Higgins Clarks books & Alexander McCall Smiths " Number One Ladies Detective Agency. A friend lent me a whole set of his books when I was immobile after a hip replacement & I loved them! I don't know how a middle aged white Scottish man could so brilliantly evoke the life & thoughts of a black Botswanan woman. I may just have been in the right frame of mind to enjoy them but they are lovely

So agree about the Number one ladies detective agency. I was lent the first one by a lady ion her nineties. I was a bit doubtful at first, but by the time I'db finished it I was hooked! I have the whole series and the most recent one is on my Christmas list. Precious is such a lovely character! My other favourite writers are Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson (DCI Banks) Peter James (Roy Grace - set in Brighton) and there are set of 8 books by Ellie Griffiths whose detective becomes entangled with a lady archaeologist in solving crimes in Norfolk. I know Norfolk and am fascinated by archeology - so a good mix!

I have to keep a list too. Currently enjoying M C Beaton s Hamish Mac beth series. Gentle crime with humour in a lovely landscape. Not so keen on her agatha raisin series. Also like Sophie Hannah detective books though they are quite hard to follow. Re Alexander Mccall Smith adore his 44 Scotland street series. Not detective but just so funny. A good read if u are feeling a bit down.

My friend is the model for the Cad in M C Beaton's Death of a Cad - didn't quite know how to comment when he told me!

Anya yes, it's a good thing that Amazon does that!

I read a lot but if someone asks me 'what are you reading at the moment' I can never remember the title or the author without going to have a look at the book.

Although - yes! I have just read one by Mary Higgins Clark, the first one I've read by her and it was very good. But don't ask me the title .

Matthew Frank is very good too. He has two out about Detective Joe Stark based in Greenwich. Cannot wait for the third one! Also Mark Billingham is excellent, re-read his Frank Thorne series recently.

The Jackson Brodie books are by Kate Atkinson. There are some good ones by Alex Gray but they are set in Glasgow.

I get 98% of my books from my local library and they have a very useful alert that comes up on their screen which tells them - and me- if I have borrowed that book before and when.

If anyone enjoys the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books they may be interested to know that a film has just come out about the marriage of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams, I think it's called A United Kingdom.

Seretse Khama is mentioned quite often in those books.

Have any of you read any by James Marrison? I read a review of his latest in the paper. Sounds promising, I am going to reserve the two from the library this week.

I have shelves full of books I have not read yet. I cannot go in to a bookshop without coming out with two or three. I do not like people buying books for me as more often than not I do not get round to reading them, not my taste, or not my subject. I like a mixture of fiction and non-fiction so have both.

One non-fiction book I did enjoy was all about the female members of 'The Impressionists'. Another was a book about a woman who was married to an Asian doctor in this country. He took her back to his country of birth with her child and straight away the trouble started. She was separated from her child and made to cover up etc etc. Her mother in law used her as an unpaid housekeeper. It was called 'Not without my daughter' and describes how they eventually escaped back to the West. Oranges and Sunshine is a book about how 180 thousand children were sent off to distant parts of the Empire in 1970. The Great Hunger is about the Irish potato famine in 1840.

For fiction I like detective stories. Lee Child/Jack Reacher; Lee Deighton; Ruth Rendell; David Baldacci; Dan Brown.

Currently reading 'F Section SOE' by Marcel Ruby which is very interesting. It is about WW2 of course, the secret agents who were sent over to France during the war.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to read the above; I feared I was the only one to forget what I had read! For those looking for good detective stories, I can heartily recommend Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallendar series - excellent!