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”
Category Archives: Fiction
“Best of” 2022
December is when the lists of the year’s best books come out. The New York Times, the Economist, The Guardian, Time Magazine, and Amazon, among others, all list their favorites. According to the Literary Hub website, the novel that got the most raves on the various end-of-year lists is Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.Continue reading ““Best of” 2022″
PESTICIDE in Your Ears
Great news! Pesticide audiobook comes out today. The Pesticide audiobook was produced by Tantor Media, and I was delighted to discover that they used two readers, Romy Nordlinger for Giuliana and Tim Campbell for Renzo. Nordlinger is a TV, movie, and stage actor (I think the word “actress” is gone, right?), and Campbell has won Audie andContinue reading “PESTICIDE in Your Ears”
Sons and Brothers
The freezing rains of late November and the icy rush of the Aare as it loops around the city of Bern set the scene for Sons and Brothers, the second Polizei Bern novel, which is due out on April 18, 2023, and can already be pre-ordered: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sons-Brothers/Kim-Hays/9781645060581 In this book Giuliana Linder and Renzo DonatelliContinue reading “Sons and Brothers”
Gripped by a Great (Big) Book
The older I’ve grown, the more difficult I’ve found it to deal with long books. In my early twenties, I can remember reading T. H. White’s The Once and Future King from cover to cover (that’s 677 pages in my faded hardcover edition), and A. S. Byatt’s wonderful Possession was a bagatelle at 555 pagesContinue reading “Gripped by a Great (Big) Book”
Take Me Out to the Race Track
I reread books. Although I know several people who can’t see the point of reading a novel a second time, I have favorite novels that I read not twice but over and over. There are times, especially if my mind is crowded with to-do lists, when picking up a lighthearted book that I’ve read beforeContinue reading “Take Me Out to the Race Track”
The Queen Investigates
When I was about twelve years old, I wanted to marry Charles, Prince of Wales, who was eighteen. I wrote him a letter, telling him about my plans for his future, and received a signed picture in return, which I stuck in a drawer. It wasn’t that I had a crush on him—as far asContinue reading “The Queen Investigates”
A Deeply Moving Darkness
In an earlier post on Belinda Bauer’s terrific mystery Snap, I mentioned how much I enjoy adult novels with realistically portrayed children. Another brilliant example is Heather Young’s The Distant Dead (2020) . The story, set in a small desert town in Nevada, is told by three characters: Jake Sanchez, a volunteer fireman and driverContinue reading “A Deeply Moving Darkness”
World without Gender:
Revisiting The Left Hand of Darkness My husband Peter and I just got back from two weeks in France. We started our holiday in the town of Sarlat in the Dordogne region, which is a nine-hour car trip from Bern. Not only did we drive back two weeks later, but we used the car aContinue reading “World without Gender:”
An Evening with Donna Leon
My March 12 post mentioned Donna Leon’s latest book, Transient Desires, her thirtieth in thirty years. I’ve always enjoyed her mysteries, and her Commissario of Police, Guido Brunetti, is my idea of a perfect hero: a clever, compassionate and literate man with an interesting family. This past Wednesday evening Ms. Leon was here in Bern,Continue reading “An Evening with Donna Leon”
Kim Hays 