A Fondness for Truth

Linder and Donatelli Mystery #3

by Kim Hays

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 since Andi had been receiving homophobic hate mail for several years. Nisha, a second-generation immigrant from Sri Lanka, has her own problems; her traditional Tamil father has banished her from the family home and won’t acknowledge Nisha and Andi’s baby daughter.

Homicide Detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to investigate what happened to Andi. As she pieces together the details of Andi’s life with Nisha, her assistant Renzo Donatelli looks into Andi’s job counseling young men who’ve been drafted into Switzerland’s civilian service. Things at home are difficult for Renzo, and Giuliana has new family troubles. Once again, they are tempted to become more than just friendly colleagues.

As both detectives dig into Andi’s life, one thing becomes Andi’s friends and family may have loved her for her honesty, but her outspokenness threatened others. Did one of those people decide to get rid of her?

Genres: Mystery

363 pages, Paperback

Published April 16, 2024

About the author

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 2023.

Hays has a BA in English history and literature from Harvard and a PhD in cultural sociology from UC-Berkeley.

Reviews

[David Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series!
In this the third installment of the Polizei Bern series, Linder and Donatelli have their hands full on multiple fronts. First, there is solving the question of who hit and killed Andi? Then while investigating this multi-faceted case they each have domestic problems at home that require their immediate attention. The investigation leads to many possible suspects stemming from the various aspects of Andi's life. Eliminating them from suspicion proves just as difficult as finding them in the first place. Their problems at home are just gut wrenching.

The writing is once again top notch with vivid descriptions and a tight plot. For me, what makes a good police procedural story is one in which the author has their characters make plausible decisions with clear reasoning and thought behind them. This story (and series) does that. And the solution is one I didn't see coming but in the end makes perfect sense. Oh, and did I mention I Love This Series?

Switzerland is definitely on my bucket list!

Thank you to the author, Seventh Street Books and Saichek Publicity for the gifted copy for me to read, review and enjoy.

[Kevintipple · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following Pesticide and Sons and Brothers, A Fondness for Truth: A Polizei Bern Novel by Kim Hays is the third read in the Linder and Doratelli Mystery series set in Bern, Switzerland. While billed as mysteries, and they are, these are also police procedurals with plenty of family and other off the job elements. They are also very good reads.

As the novel begins, Andi Eberhart is headed home on a cold and icy March night. It is late and she is on her bicycle as that is how she gets around town. Her helmet has vanished and she has no idea what happened to it. Not that it probably matters when she is deliberately hit by a car and sent flying to an impact that killed her.

Initially Homicide Detective Giuliana Linder, though marginally aware of the case, is not assigned to it. But, as things happen, because she is in the station while the lead detective is out in the field, she is the first point of contact for Nisha Pragasam, Andi’s partner. Her family are refugees from Sri Lanka and the civil war decades ago and Nishi is a member of the Swiss Tamils community. This means there are issues of societal caste, assimilation, and more in the background of the case. Then there is the fact that her and Andi were not legally married, even though the two women were partners, lived together, and were raising a baby. Nisha is devastated by what has happened. She is also sure that the crash was no accident.

For several years now, Andi has been receiving horrible hate mail. The homophobic screeds have gotten worse since their baby girl was born a few weeks ago. Andi was also recently promoted Skip on her curling team and at least one teammate was vehemently and very publicly upset and causing issues over the promotion and being passed over. Then there is the fact that she was an advocate on social issues and did so as well in her job as an advisor to people drafted into Switzerland’s civil service. Andi was a strong-willed woman with a clear sense of right and wrong and rubbed some folks the wrong way.

She had a lot going on in her job and elsewhere so there are many suspects. Friends, family, coworkers, and others all must be investigated and ruled out as the police have little to go on. The only clue is the fact it was a red car that did it and fled the scene.

The case is being handled by others, for now, so Giuliana can focus on her current assignment. She is to meet with Manfred Kissling in prison where he awaits trial and get some sort of confession that would explain the horrible act he did a two months ago. Others have tried with no success and now the powers that be want Giuliana to have a crack at him.

On a Sunday in January, he picked up his daughters, Mia and Lea, three and five years old, for visitation. He drove over an hour from their house where they lived with their mother who had primary custody, and took them to an outing at a cliff in the Jura mountains. He parked at an overlook, took them to the edge of the cliff, and threw them to their deaths fifteen-hundred-foot below. He then got back in his car and went to where he lived. He was still there when the coops came to arrest him days later.

The prosecution easily prove he did it. The evidence is not disputable. He did it. But, nobody, including his ex-wife, knows why he did it, Manfred Kissling has refused all requests to explain. The prosecution does not want to get sandbagged with a surprise at trial so they want Giuliana to go to the prison and interview him. The hope is that she can get him to talk. To do so, she has to make the hour-long plus trip each way and deeply immerse herself in the case so that she can, hopefully, get him to open up and explain to her why he did what he did.

As she works that case, it isn’t long before she is drawn into the murder of Andi Eberhart. She, Detective Renzo Donatelli, and others work the increasingly complicated murder case. Along the way they learn quite a lot about the people who have moved here from Sri Lanka, how they are seen back home as well in and outside of the community in Switzerland, racism, assimilation, and more.

This goes on while both Giuliana Linder and Detective Renzo Donatelli deal with a lot of stuff going on in their respective families. There are marital strains, a health crisis, and a lot of life stuff going on as both juggle home and their work. Both struggle trying to do it all.

A Fondness for Truth: A Polizei Bern Novel by Kim Hays is a very complicated mystery/police procedural read. The main characters as well as many of the secondary characters at home and work continue to evolve as life happens. The concept of family, and the many different forms it can take, has always been present in this series and even more so in this read.

A series that absolutely should be read in order, A Fondness for Truth: A Polizei Bern Novel is a mighty good read. Strongly recommended.


Publicist Wiley Saichek sent me a copy of this book, with no expectation of a review, over a year ago.

Kevin R. Tipple©2025

[Crimefictioncritic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Bern. Switzerland, the novel opens with thirty-three-year-old Andrea “Andi” Eberhart riding her bicycle home from curling practice on a frigid night in March. A red car following her suddenly speeds up and smashes into her, sending Eberhart flying into a tree. The impact snaps her neck and kills her. When the evidence suggests it isn’t a simple hit-and-run but premeditated murder, the police launch an investigation. The death of Eberhart devastates her Sri Lankan partner, Nisha, who also immediately suspects foul play because of a series of anonymous homophobic letters someone has sent to their home over a period of the past four years.

Bern homicide detective Giuliana Linder, who is busy preparing for the trial of a man who killed his two young daughters and her colleague Renzo Donatelli, gets pulled into the Eberhart investigation when the hit-and-run gets reclassified as a homicide. Soon there is no shortage of suspects and Linder and Donatelli undertake the painstaking task of eliminating them one by one in their search for the killer.

Having read and enjoyed the previous two books in the series, finding A Fondness for Truth absorbing and entertaining didn’t surprise me. First, Hays excels not only in writing an unerringly accurate police procedural but also displays her experience and expertise in crafting characters who seem so real you can’t avoid becoming emotively involved with them. I was just as engaged in Linder and Donatelli’s personal lives as I was with the case, which I really didn’t mind.

Failure to strike a proper balance between the professional and personal is often a weakness in crime fiction that makes for dull or stereotypical characters. Hays avoids this brilliantly, and I truly enjoyed the personal insight into the lives of the detectives as they interacted with their partners and children. In fact, this insight is central to the story of this novel. Also, Linder having to switch her attention back and forth between the current investigation and the trial preparation for a previous one added breadth and interest to the story.

One other thing that sets Hays’ writing apart for me is how she weaves current affairs, cultural issues, and contemporary social issues into her novels. This gives her books the immersive feel as you never feel you’re just reading about a place you aren’t terribly familiar with but almost as if you are visiting the place and experiencing it. Also, besides the entertainment value, I always learn something when reading a Kim Hays novel. As an example for this book, I learned a good deal about Sri Lankan culture I didn’t know previously.

I really enjoyed A Fondness for Truth because of all the reasons mentioned. The procedural stuff was spot on, and I really loved the personality and humanity Hays brought to the characters. I really came to know Linder and Donatelli better and look forward to meeting them again. I love novels that touch me on the emotional level and this one did just that.

Fans of international crime, and the police procedural genre, will enjoy this novel. While you shouldn’t miss the first two books in the series, A Fondness for Truth works just as well as a standalone and you needn’t have read the previous books before reading this one.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher for consideration of a review. This review represents my honest opinions.

[Betsy Draine · Rating 5 out of 5]

With an original and fascinating plot, A Fondness for Truth takes the genre of police procedural to new heights. Kim Hays grounds her third mystery in the specifics of Switzerland's system of alternative service, giving the reader an inside look at how the Swiss value individual conscience, civic duty, and justice. As in earlier works in the Polizei Bern series, Hays excels at characterization, giving her wonderfully likable detective Giuliana Linder a deep moral sensibility that wars with her attraction to colleague Renzo Donatelli. Hays gives Renzo depth too and even manages to individualize every member of the murder squad, who by now in the series are functioning like a family. Depth of characterization helps Hays delicately handle the difficult topics of homophobia and women's oppression in the Tamil immigrant community. By the time the murder is solved, we have come to empathize so completely with the detectives, their families, the victims, and the suspects that we don't want to leave their world--the mark of a compeling mystery.

[Clare O'Dea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kim Hays is in her usual sparkling form in the third book of the Polizei Bern series. She always chooses such interesting moral questions, illustrating the best and worst of human behaviour. The family and work dynamics are authentic, the plot twists and turns merrily and the social mix is nicely diverse.

[Becky Bosshart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am grateful to blogger Lesa Holstein for writing about this author and this book specifically. Wow, Kim Hays is my new favorite international police procedural writer. Her characters are fun, there is a bit of sexiness and family drama that doesn’t obscure the mystery but instead adds to it, and even illuminates it. What an accomplishment! The best thing I can say is that this book is highly readable with a propulsive plot that will keep you turning pages even though the author is having to familiarize you with Swiss culture and systems. I know very little about the culture, but really it’s accessible and in no way overwhelming. Kim is now an “always buy” for me.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and well plotted mystery that deals with serious topics and never fails to keep you guessing and hooked.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Phyllis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5