If you click on the link on the home page entitled “Year’s Best” (just under my photo) you will find some additional titles added to the ones you can find in the latest issue of Deadly Pleasures. You’ll also find lists of the “best so far” submitted by contributors to Deadly Pleasures. The main purpose of the magazine is to point you towards the best mysteries, crime novels and thrillers of the year.

One of the biggest surprises in the last couple of months’ reading is a first novel called PESTICIDE by Kim Hays. Here is a rough draft of my review :

PESTICIDE
by Kim Hays
Seventh Street Books, $17.95, May
Linder & Donatelli #1
Rating: A-
First a word about the title. It did not engender any thoughts of “Well, that sounds good. I think I’ll read it.” Quite the opposite. It was some correspondence with the publicist for PESTICIDE that engendered sufficient interest in me to read this first novel.
PESTICIDE is set in Bern, Switzerland and its environs. There, the police are faced with two violent deaths. The first occurred during a youth gathering that got out of hand and turned into a riot. A young man is later found bludgeoned to death with a policeman’s club. Veteran detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to this case.
The second case involves an elderly organic farmer whose body is found drenched in pesticide. The impossibly handsome Detective Renzo Donatello catches this one.
Now a word about Linder and Donatelli. They both are married with children whom they adore. And, even though Linder is years older than Donatelli, there is a recognized physical attraction between the two. There is some discord in each of their own marital relationships, but not enough to justify them having an affair. So the sexual tension in this story (and the series to follow, I suspect) will be “will they be able to stay apart,” – not “when will they get together.”
As we read further into the novel, we find that both Linder and Donatelli are excellent and committed detectives – and very likeable characters.
This might be a crime novel that some overlook, but they shouldn’t. Kim Hays has written a fascinating police procedural, chock full of details, with the sure hand of a veteran. It will be on my shortlist of best first mysteries of 2022.