A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH

A suspected hate crime divides a town and embroils two investigators in Hays’ novel.

This Switzerland-set mystery novel, the third in the author’s Polizei Bern series, begins with the violent and tragic death of Andi Eberhart, 33, who’s struck by a car and killed while riding her bicycle home through the icy streets of Bern. The hit-and-run aspect of the death devastates her Sri Lankan partner, Nisha; she immediately suspects foul play, revealing to investigators that the couple and their newborn daughter, Saritha, had been terrorized by a relentless barrage of anonymous homophobic letters sent to their home. When the event is recategorized as a homicide, detective duo Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli ramp up their investigation as a list of suspects begins to fall into place. Someone in Nisha’s Tamil family, stridently opposed to her queer lifestyle, could possibly be responsible—most notably her brother, Mathan, who’s been texting her with shaming messages. Various others might have wanted to cause Andi harm, too: Perhaps the murder could be connected to her job counseling soldiers, or retribution for her reporting racist, bullying guards at the courthouse where a client worked. As the details of Andi’s personal life, in addition to her forthright personality and outspoken temperament, become more lucid, Giuliana and Renzo’s job of ferreting out a killer grows more difficult amid an ever expanding group of suspects and plausible leads (“She always hated people who said one thing and meant another. Our girl always spoke her mind, didn’t she, dear?”). With the duo’s powers of deduction once again on impressive display, this third outing is a fine addition to the series, with Hays remaining consistently focused on current affairs, international cultures, and hot topics. The author puts LGBTQ+ parenting trends, hate crimes, and homophobia center stage in an investigation that brings heat to these issues and leads to a rousing resolution.

A brisk, smoothly written police procedural from an author engaged with contemporary social issues.