Author Archives: Kim Hays

Living Next Door to Bern’s Bears

I was recently invited to join a tour of Bern’s bear park, and I learned so much about the city’s bears that I thought I’d share some of it with you. It’s a story with a happy ending for the bears but also a reminder of how cruel supposedly civilized people can be to animals. InContinue reading “Living Next Door to Bern’s Bears”

My Mother’s Library

Only two days past Mother’s Day, I just had a little piece about my mother Joy Hays published on Lesa’s Book Critiques, a blog about books—especially mysteries—that is run by library manager Lesa Holstine. Lesa has won all kinds of awards for her book reviews, and I’m very grateful to her for publishing the piece.Continue reading “My Mother’s Library”

Thrilling News

Much as I enjoy compliments to Pesticide or Sons and Brothers, I don’t think anyone would call my mysteries thrillers! So I was especially pleased to be interviewed by The Big Thrill: https://www.thebigthrill.org/?p=84188. The Big Thrill is the online monthly magazine put out by the International Thriller Writers Association (ITW). I suppose by now thereContinue reading “Thrilling News”

Stephen King Meets Georgette Heyer

I know someone who teaches classes on how to revise manuscripts. The example she gives her students of a writer who knows how to pace his novels brilliantly is Stephen King. She thinks his ability to create suspense is extraordinary. Stephen King is seventy-five years old; he was born and brought up in Maine andContinue reading “Stephen King Meets Georgette Heyer”

Little Known Facts about Paradise

My friend Clare O’Dea is a dual citizen like me, but Swiss-Irish instead of Swiss-American. She’s also a writer of fiction and non-fiction and (unlike me) a professional journalist. A few weeks ago, she interviewed me for Switzerland’s version of an English-language online newsletter called The Local, which she writes for regularly. The article isContinue reading “Little Known Facts about Paradise”

Some Useful Rat

When I was about thirty, I traveled around Germany with one of my uncles. A year or two before that, I’d taken beginner German classes for two or three months.  You’ve heard the saying, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” Well, my trip to Germany made that clear. At the places we were staying, thereContinue reading “Some Useful Rat”

The Cold Days of Carnival

Monday, February 27, at four in the morning, the city of Basel’s Fasnacht celebration began. Fasnacht is the German word for Carnival, and Basel’s lasts three days. Yesterday morning, despite darkness, icy cold, and the painfully early hour, thousands of people lined the streets of Switzerland’s third largest city to watch groups of men andContinue reading “The Cold Days of Carnival”

Coming Soon to a Bookstore near You

Last August, I posted about Sons and Brothers, the second book in the Polizei Bern series. August 2022 was when I got a first version of the front cover to show off. Now I have the front and back covers, and the book is due out in sixty-seven days, on April 18. Here’s the latest descriptionContinue reading “Coming Soon to a Bookstore near You”

PESTICIDE Audiobook on Sale

Most of us loved being read to as children, and I guess I never outgrew my delight in it.  I listen to almost as many books as I read, maybe more when my days are heavier than usual with cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, watering my balcony, or getting through some other task that doesn’tContinue reading “PESTICIDE Audiobook on Sale”