>Thanks for your help, its a pity about the LinqExcel util as I have a feeling my starter project ( parsing Excel files ) will grow horns and something like that would be very useful, how nice it would be to say "select * from my excel.xlsx"

Not sure why LinqToExcel needs the Access engine - presumably so that it can piggy-back on some functionality in there. Maybe it's worth overcoming your dislike of Access and giving it a try (after all it's only the engine - and you won't really be aware of its presence :-} )