A nice quick romp of a steam punk mini mystery. The author successfully creates a cadre of characters that come to life. The investigation, which is the thrust of the novella, is a bit like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The ending however, was a bit shallow hence the 4 stars. ( )

Second Bartleby & James adventure. Bartleby & James are on a trip in an airship when a murder takes place and they discover the ship has been sabotaged.
An interesting story, and one in which Bartleby & James initially fail at finding the culprit. In the end they do succeed in saving the day, but I found it interesting that the great detective and great engineer in this case have great difficulty. I gives them more character and makes them more human. ( )

Great steampunk adventure. Sherlock Holmes goes steampunk. Robert Downey Jr. would have had more fun in this adventure. ( )

Well, this is the second short story/book I have read by Michael Coorlim and it is the first Barlteby and James story that I have read. The other story I read was Sky Pirates Over London which was the first story in the Chronicles of a Gentlewoman and I must say that Maiden Voyage was just as good as Sky Pirates. I really, really enjoyed them both; it must be something to do with the steampunk genre and Victorian era setting! The dialogue was just awesome and the characters were very entertaining.

This story finds Bartleby and James on the airship Rio Grande during her maiden voyage (just as implied by the title). As the story begins, James Wainwright is in the brig of the said airship because he was found standing over the dead body of an engineer. So, he is arrested as a suspect for the engineer's murder - fortunately for him, Bartleby sets out to solve the murder. As the story progress, we find out that the airship has been sabotaged and will crash into London unless Bartleby and James can solve the murder and find the missing part!

Like I said earlier, it was a great read and I am looking forward to reading the next installment! ( )

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher/author through the LibraryThing.com Members Giveaway program. I was asked to post an honest review (though not necessarily a favourable one). The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

After reading "Sky Pirates Over London", I was a bit worried about reading another novelette by the same author, but my worries were, luckily, quite unfounded.
While still quite rushed in places, the plot is not sketchy but feels very fast-paced, as befitting for the life-or-death situation narrated.
The two main characters are much more sympathetic than Aldora Fiske, quirky, but still human. The similarity with Holmes and Watson is quite noticeable and probably intentional, but quirks and weirdness are equally distributed between the pair.

Some of the additional cast is still quite sketchy and there are a few unresolved issues at the end of the novelette (who is the villain mastermind?) as well as some not-quite-believable catastrophic scenarios, but "The Maiden Voyage of the Rio Grande" is definitely an enjoyable read.

Maybe the author will decide to graduate to full-length novels...? ( )