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186 ratings | 4 reviews | avg rating:3.82

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Kim Hays

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://kimhaysbern.com/

Twitter

kimhaysbern

Genre

Crime, Mystery, Romance

Influences

Donna Leon Michael Connelly Josephine Tey Margaret Maron Deborah Cromb ...more

Member Since

January 2014

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Kim Hays is a dual citizen (Swiss/American) who has made her home in Bern since she married a Swiss. Before that, she lived in San Juan, Vancouver, and Stockholm, as well as the US, her birthplace. Since the age of seventeen, she has worked at a wide variety of jobs, from factory forewoman to director of a small nonprofit and, in Switzerland, from sociology lecturer to cross-cultural trainer. She began writing mysteries when her son left for college. PESTICIDE (2022), the first book in her Polizei Bern series, was shortlisted for the 2020 Debut Dagger award by the Crime Writers’ Association; and mystery writer Deborah Crombie called it “a stand-out debut for 2022.” The second book in the series, SONS AND BROTHERS, was published in April 202 ...more

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Kim Hays's Blog

Reading WHISTLER

In my January 2024 blog post, I called Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake (2023) “a joyful novel” and included it in a list of my favorite books for 2024. This weekend I’ve just finished Patchett’s Whistler (2026), another novel that introduces us to loving and lovable characters working to resolve questions about their pasts that I savored from beginning to end. And I’m not the only reader who was delighted

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Kim Hays’s books

Average rating: 4.15 · 255 ratings · 64 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Pesticide (Linder and Donatelli Mystery, #1) 4.04 avg rating — 135 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sons and Brothers (Linder and Donatelli Mystery, #2) 4.28 avg rating — 53 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Fondness for Truth (Linder and Donatelli Mystery, #3) 4.27 avg rating — 33 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Splintered Justice: A Linder and Donatelli Mystery 4.28 avg rating — 29 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Practicing Virtues: Moral Traditions at Quaker and Military Boarding Schools really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Kim Hays

Linder and Donatelli Mystery (3 books)
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Kim Hays (Goodreads Author)

4.14 avg rating — 221 ratings

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Kim’s Recent Updates

Kim Hays wants to read Silver Pebbles (Inspector Hunkeler, #1) by Hansjörg Schneider	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 10, 2026 09:23AM · like
Kim Hays wants to read A Secret Affair (Huxtable Quintet, #5) by Mary Balogh	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 08, 2026 05:01AM · like
Kim Hays liked Celia Wakefield's review of A Thousand Ships: "where are the women? If you enjoy an authors back story go directly to the Afterward. Ms Haynes reminds me of how much Ancient Greek literature I haven't read and my challenge now will be to hunt up her source materials. Like Shakespeare, we are famil" Read more of this review »
Mar 16, 2026 12:40AM · see review
Kim Hays is now following Celia Wakefield's reviews
Nov 03, 2025 12:45PM · like
Kim Hays rated a book it was amazing Before the Leaves Fall by Clare O'Dea (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I love this book! Its portrayal of the Swiss is spot on, and its portrait of two lonely and secretive people who reach out to each other in spite of themselves is perfect — and poignant. Ruedi, a recent widower looking to fill his time and be useful, ...more
Nov 03, 2025 05:48AM · 1 like · like · see review

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Kim Hays

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