A Fondness of Truth

Honesty isn’t always the best policy in Kim Hays’ third Linder and Donatelli Mystery novel . . .

Andi Eberhart is riding her bicycle home on an icy winter night when she is killed in a hit-and-run. Her devastated partner, Nisha, is convinced the death was no accident. Andi had been receiving homophobic hate mail for several years, and the letters grew uglier after the couple’s baby was born.

Bern homicide Detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to investigate what happened to Andi. As she pieces together the details of Andi and Nisha’s lives, her assistant Renzo Donatelli looks into Andi’s job advising young men drafted into Switzerland’s civilian service. Working closely together, Giuliana and Renzo are again tempted to become more than just friendly colleagues.

As both detectives dig into Andi’s life, one thing becomes clear: Andi’s friends and family may have loved her for her honesty, but her outspokenness threatened others--perhaps enough to get rid of her.

Kim Hays is a dual Swiss/US citizen. After years spent in the States, as well as in San Juan, Vancouver, and Stockholm, she now lives in Bern with her Swiss husband. She has worked in a variety of jobs, from forewoman in a truck-engine factory to lecturer in sociology. Sons and Brothers is the second mystery in her Polizei Bern series; the first, Pesticide, was shortlisted for the 2020 Debut Dagger award by the Crime Writers’ Association. Kim has a BA from Harvard and a PhD from the University of California-Berkeley.