I've a level 43 Kahjit who cannot buy a detect life spell. The Mage's guild does not have one for him. The mage at the Rift city does not have one. Ditto the jarl's mage in Whitrun and Solitude. The Mage in Markath (sic) who was willing to sell my son's hero just such a spell has none for me. My alteration level is 29. I thought the spell would appear when I hit alteration 25 but it did not.

The minor frustrations with this Elder Scrolls game are building up. Enough minor equals major. Anyway, I'll try and find one at alteration level 30.

Perhaps I need to further the mages guild quest line more than I have? I've finished the excavation site.

My level 42 dark elf got his Detect Life spell before he was level 20.

It depends on your Alteration skill level yes. Iirc, it has to be around 50.

actually if you travel southwest of riften a bit you'll find a fort which contains a quests, you'll get detect life tome as a reward. btw this quest reward isnt random done it more than 3 times.

There's a quest that is guaranteed to give you a detect life tome as a reward.

I've personally acquired a tome of detect dead even though my alteration was like 29 from a leveled dungeon chest; but my level was very high ~60. :laugh: