Jessie: In NH where the black flies have returned with a vengence!

I am delighted to welcome Kim to the Wickeds today! She was introduced to me by Julia Spencer-Fleming, so you know she is a delight! Take it away, Kim!

The Swiss and their “Globules”

Thanks for hosting me, Jessica, and thank you, Wickedwriters and readers, for letting me tell you something about myself and my third police procedural, A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH.

I grew up with a mother who was a librarian; in those days,long before Google, she loved reference books. From the story of Henry VIII’s six wives to the Celtic roots of Halloween, she made random facts enjoyable. If my sister or I had a challenging question, she’d show us how to find the answer in an encyclopedia or dictionary.

So, it’s not surprising that one of the reasons I write books is to research answers to intriguing questions. I’ve turned to mystery writing for many reasons, including a love of good stories, a fascination with moral dilemmas, and a yearning to introduce my American countryfolk to my adopted city of Bern, the Swiss capital. But another of my aims has been to reveal odd facts about Switzerland: for example, its use of children as forced labor on farms until 1970 or the unexpected importance of the military in a country that has been neutral since 1515. 

The first book in my Polizei Bern series featuring police detectives Linder and Donatelli is PESTICIDE (2022), which gave me a rationale for learning how organic farms are certified. In the course of examining whether a young man drowned his bullying father, the second book in the series, SONS AND BROTHERS (2023), takes a look at how Bern’s crucial medieval guild system evolved into a set of elite clubs for the city’s great patrician families. In A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH, which just came out, my detectives investigate the hit-and-run death of a lesbian activist whose partner is convinced she was murdered. That’s plenty of material to work with, but I couldn’t resist adding the controversial subject of alternative medicine.

My husband, our son, and I have Swiss health insurance, which is required, private, and expensive. I was amazed to discover that even the cheapest, most basic health policy covers several alternative therapies, including Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophic theories, traditional Chinese medicine, phytotherapy—which uses only plants as medicine—and homeopathy. All these, and many more non-science-based medical treatments, are popular in Switzerland.

I find the claims of some alternative medicine practicesdubious, but the wackiest by far is homeopathy. Its ideas date back to the theories of a German “doctor” born in 1755 who believed, among other things, that eating walnuts would heal your brain because a walnut resembles a brain and eating kidney-shaped beans would cure your kidneys. He was also convinced that a substance that causes a disease in a healthy person should cure the same disease in a sick person. 

Finally, he was persuaded that whatever spiritual healing power a substance has will be enormously increased if that substance is diluted countless times in water using a ritualized form of shaking. His theories led him to create a series of tiny pills or “globules” made from infinitesimally diluted poisonous substances. Patients could take them to heal almost any ailment. The same stuff is still in use today. In fact, by 2028, the global market for homeopathic products is expected to be worth $15.52 billion.

So what, you may say. If these sugar-based globules laced with diluted drops of poison make some people feel better and do no actual harm, why shouldn’t they be sold?

Well, I don’t think much of duping the sick into spending their money on something as ludicrous as these little pills, nor do I approve of treatments based on sympathetic magic forcing up the cost of already expensive health insurance. But I know people who disagree. What do you think about sales of homeopathic remedies, and how do you feel about alternative therapies in general?

Oh, yes. I forgot to say I hope you’ll read A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH! To my delight, William Kent Krueger called it “an absolutely riveting mystery.”

Readers, do you have faith in alternative medicine?

Kim Hays, a citizen of Switzerland and the United States, has made her home in Bern for thirty-six years since marrying her Swiss husband. She’s the author of three books in the Polizei Bern series featuring Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli:PESTICIDE, SONS AND BROTHERS, and the newest, A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH. Learn more about Kim and her books at www.kimhaysbern.com.