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This book series was I believe at least three books long. I started reading it 10+ years ago. This was hard science fiction not fantasy.

It starts with a murder of a wealthy person. The wealthy can afford to transfer their mind into a new body grown from their DNA when they get old. I think the memories of the person murdered were either stolen or destroyed so an investigation was started. There are human colonies on many planets.

There were a ton of characters in these books. The narrator changes many times as there are many storylines woven throughout this universe. Not Dune or Children of Time.

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    Transfer to young clones by rich/powerful people is a recurring element in the 'Vorkosigan' saga by Bujold, but while that has multiple storylines and divergent human cultures on quite a few worlds, it focusses mostly on the titular family and especially one of them (Miles), and the people they or he interact with. By wikipedia's count she's up to 23 stories over ~35 years. Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 19:12
  • Also reminds me of The Golden Age trilogy by John C. Wright. From the book blurb: "Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, is attending a glorious party at his family mansion to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the High Transcendence. There he meets first an old man who accuses him of being an impostor and then a being from Neptune who claims to be an old friend. The Neptunian tells him that essential parts of his memory were removed and stored by the very government that Phaethon believes to be wholly honorable. It shakes his faith. He is an exile from himself."
    – Jerry
    Commented Aug 27, 2021 at 14:07

2 Answers 2

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This sounds a lot like the Commonwealth Saga by Peter F Hamilton.

The first book is called Pandora's Star (2004), and certainly fits the description of there being a LOT of characters, and a murder where someone's "backup" memories are lost.

The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter, contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over one thousand light-years away, a star... vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears. Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, a faster-than-light starship, the Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. In command is Wilson Kime, a five-time rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot whose glory days are centuries behind him.

Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer. Bradley Johansson, leader of the Guardians, warns of sabotage, fearing the Starflyer means to use the starship's mission for its own ends.

Pursued by a Commonwealth special agent convinced the Guardians are crazy but dangerous, Johansson flees. But the danger is not averted. Aboard the Second Chance, Kime wonders if his crew has been infiltrated. Soon enough, he will have other worries. A thousand light-years away, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth... and humanity itself. Could it be that Johansson was right?

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  • One of the many sub-plots also starts with the murder of one of the wealthy people, with their memory backups being damaged.
    – HorusKol
    Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 10:32
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    Specifically the sub-plot mentioned by the OP is the investigation by Paula Myo into the bodyloss and memory erasures of Tara Jennifer Shaheef and Wyobie Cotal. An unfaithful wife and her younger lover, their plans to run away and catching the perpetrator unspools slowly over the course of all three books if I recall correcly.
    – Jontia
    Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 12:15
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    In the commonwealth saga, the wealthy don't transfer their minds generally speaking, they just get rejuvenation. Though relife from scratch is possible, its not what most rejuvenation entails, if I recall correctly. Therefore, this doesn't really match. Also even when they are resurrected, its not the original mind, but a recording of it that gets placed in the new body. The original is totally dead at that point. Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 18:13
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This could also be Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series, in particular the first book, Altered Carbon.

From Wiki:

In the future, humans have achieved virtual immortality. Most people have cortical stacks in their spinal columns that store their consciousness. If their body dies, their stack can be stored indefinitely. [...]

While most people can afford to get resleeved at the end of their lives, they are unable to update their bodies and most go through the full aging process each time, which discourages most from resleeving more than once or twice. Thus, while people can live indefinitely in theory, most choose not to. Only the wealthy are able to acquire replacement bodies on a continual basis. Those who have lived for multiple lifespans are called Meths, a reference to the Biblical figure Methuselah. The very rich are also able to keep copies of their minds in remote storage, which they update regularly. This ensures that even if their stack is destroyed, they can be re-sleeved. [...]

On Earth, a Meth named Laurens Bancroft has died in mysterious circumstances in Bay City (formerly San Francisco). The re-sleeved Bancroft has no memories of the previous two days, including his own death. Though police officer Kristin Ortega believes he committed suicide, Bancroft is convinced he was murdered

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  • I feel bad about the negative vote, but the other answer is almost certainly the correct one and I want to try to help push it upwards. Sorry!
    – Jontia
    Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 12:16
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    You should note that this differs significantly from the question in that there is only a single main point of view - Kovacs' own - throughout.
    – DavidW
    Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 13:14

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