The Expat Affair, Kimberly Belle (Review by Kristin Kurek)

Whoa! I had the pleasure of reading this on a recent trip to Amsterdam, and I couldn’t put it down. Rayna Dumont, an American expat in Amsterdam, wakes up from a Tinder date in the bed of a handsome diamond executive, Xander. The previous night, she posted a photo of herself wearing a stunning and expensive diamond necklace in Xander’s bed to her social media account. The only problem is that he is dead in his shower, and millions of euros of diamonds are missing. Rayna looks guilty of the murder and the theft. How can she prove her innocence? Is she the next target? Willow Prins is another American ex-patriot in Amsterdam and the wife of the House of Prins Diamond CEO. She finds herself wrapped up in the murder of her husband’s employee and the theft of the family’s diamonds. Can Rayna and Willow collaborate to solve the murder and find the diamonds? What are their individual motives? Who can they trust in a foreign city? This book is a fast-paced mystery that explores the legal and illegal world of diamonds. I loved reading about the economic and artistic aspects of the industry and the black market for stolen goods. The foreign setting in the Netherlands made the book feel even more unsettling for the two women as they unravel the mystery. Both women were fascinating “grey” characters with different motivations to solve the mystery. I found myself rooting for a wholly unexpected character in the end! The Expat Affair had me guessing from the very first page to the very last page. This book is for the thriller junkie in all of us. Highly recommend.