Kim Hays

Kim Hays is a dual citizen of Switzerland and the US who has lived in Bern with her Swiss husband for thirty-seven years and, before that, in San Juan, Vancouver, Stockholm, and the States. Kim has had many jobs, from factory forewoman to director of a small nonprofit organization and from university lecturer to cross-cultural trainer for multinational firms. She has a BA from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the University of California in Berkeley.

Published by Seventh Street Books, PESTICIDE (2022), the first book in Kim’s Polizei Bern series, introduces Swiss police detectives Linder and Donatelli. It was shortlisted for the CWA’s Debut Dagger Award and Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery. Kim’s second book was SONS AND BROTHERS (2023); Kirkus Reviews called it “a smart Swiss procedural that keeps its mystery ticking.” A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH (2024), the third Linder and Donatelli book, was judged a “stellar” police procedural: an “empathetic, entertaining, smartly plotted mystery [that] will keep readers guessing” by BookLife Reviews. The latest in the series, SPLINTERED JUSTICE (forthcoming in April 2025), was praised by Martin Walker of Bruno, Chief of Police fame as “another sharply observed and savvy police procedural with people who feel real.”