The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle @kimberlybellebooks @jenniferjill.araya @jenniferjillaraya.bsky.social @theladyhamlet @theladyhamlet.bsky.social @harlequinbooks #TheExpatAffair

the setup…
Rayna Dumont is an American expatriate living in Amsterdam and working as a freelance travel writer. Licking her wounds following a brutal and scandalous divorce, she decides to throw caution to the wind one evening and go home with Xander, her Tinder date. She wakes the next morning to find him murdered in his penthouse apartment shower. She flees the building but later contacts the police. Unfortunately, murder wasn’t the only problem in that fancy apartment. See, Xander was a gemologist and millions of dollars worth of diamonds are missing. The prime suspect? Yeah, Rayna. There’s also another American expatriate in the mix, Willow Prins who is married to Thomas, the sixth-generation heir to the House of Prins, the family diamond dynasty who Xander worked for. She’s keenly interested in the investigation…and Rayna.

the heart of the story…
Get ready for whiplash as this story moves at a breakneck pace and the suspects shift just as quickly. Rayna and Willow provide the points of view and the contrasts couldn’t be more opposite. Rayna is an open book, trying desperately to clear her name and avoid those who want the diamonds they think she stole. Willow has an agenda but she’s cagey and a bit opaque. The Prins family is highly esteemed and masterful in the cutthroat world of the Diamond industry but she’s definitely not an insider.

the narration…
Jennifer Jill Araya was perfection as Willow, smoothly delivering a performance that fit her character. Marni Penning was equally skilled with her voice for Rayna. And both handled the host of secondary characters and the Dutch nicely.

the bottom line…
This was smart, intricately plotted and well researched. I was fully invested in Rayna and found myself trusting no one. Willow kept me off balance but that felt intentional. Lots of intrigue, subterfuge and treachery here, just what I was hoping for in this kind of story.

Book Info

• Release Date: June 3, 2025
• Narrators: Jennifer Jill Araya & Marni Penning
• Audio Length: 11 hours, 7 minutes
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio

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(Thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)