Maiden Voyage is a new standalone novel by Bradley Harper and is a historical thriller featuring a gang of female thieves, a priceless painting, and a Pinkerton agent aboard the ill-fated Titanic.
Title: Maiden Voyage
Author: Bradley Harper
First Published: November 18, 2025
Publisher: Artemesia Publishing
Genres: historical fiction
Acquired: from the publisher
*** Disclaimer: the author, Bradley Harper, is one of my clients and I organised the book tour for Maiden Voyage that this review is a part of. This review is completely unbiased and voluntary and I would not have posted a review if I didn’t honestly enjoy the book
Colette DuVall, a young jewel thief from Canada, follows Mary Carr, the ‘Queen’ of the criminal gang The Forty Elephants, aboard the Titanic to steal a painting by the French master, Blondell. Her resolve weakens when she meets Harry Worth, a young Pinkerton agent hired to safeguard the wealthy passengers during the ship’s maiden voyage. Harry, the son of master criminal Adam Worth, questions his role as a private policeman exacting private justice, and his doubts deepen after losing his heart to the charming Colette. Can two people on opposite sides of the law find love and survive the sinking of the largest object ever made?
Loyalties collide as fiercely as the ship with the iceberg, and as the three struggle to escape the foundering colossus they find that love may be the greatest thief of all.
A heist … aboard a doomed ship.
The Titanic. A gang of female thieves. Priceless artwork. A heist. A Pinkerton agent.
How many intriguing things can an author cram into one novel? Apparently ‘All of the Above’. And it works. It works so well!
To be honest, I’ve never been one to be fascinated by Titanic fiction – on print or on film. It’s just not something I’ve ever been into. But since I am a fan of Bradley Harper’s other books, I was eager to see what he could do with this historical fiction story.
The characters were really what made this book a hit for me. More than a few of them are based on real-life characters and the ones that are fictional fit in seamlessly and feel just as real. I had never really heard of the Forty Elephants before and loved discovering and learning about them.
The pacing was quick and there was an urgency behind the entire book that didn’t need to be spelled out directly because the reader anticipates what’s coming. The heist storyline is already tense enough, but since the reader has the knowledge that the ship is going to go into emergency mode makes everything even more apprehensive. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. Were the thieves going to succeed? Who was going to survive?
I whipped through this book faster than my normal reading pace because I just had to know the answers to these questions. I definitely recommend this book for mystery, thriller, and historical fiction lovers. Fans of Titanic stories definitely need to add this to their bookshelves!
About the Author, Bradley Harper
Bradley Harper is a retired US Army Colonel and pathologist who has performed over two-hundred autopsies and some twenty forensic investigations. A life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes, he did intensive research for this debut novel, A KNIFE IN THE FOG, including a trip to London’s East End with noted Jack the Ripper historian Richard Jones. Harper’s first novel was published in October 2018 and was a finalist for the 2019 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author and won the Killer Nashville 2019 Silver Falchion for Best Mystery. Harper’s second novel, QUEEN’S GAMBIT, was awarded the Killer Nashville 2020 Silver Falchion Award as Best Suspense and Book of the Year.
MAIDEN VOYAGE is Harper’s fourth book.
You can connect with Bradley Harper online here:
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