I am sick and tired of people dieing - in the novels I read.

I've lost count, but it must be seven or eight in a row that one of the principal character dies unexpectedly, sometimes over hundreds of pages. Death's all right, but life better.

Of course I check the blurb carefully now - and if one of the protagonists is suspicioulsy old, or there's mention of "serious crisis" in a character's life, I return the book to the 3 for 2 table.

But recently, blurb-writers (There's a career for you...) have been giving less and less away. And the authors I choose bring death into everything.

So - has anyone got any ideas for my next non-lethal read? I should point out I'm an intellectual snob, allergic to all Arport and Harry Potter type fiction.

A hopeless case, eh?