Skite, the Rat King, notable Veridan assassin, and all-around bad guy, has had an idea of something he'd like to steal, and he has just the crew he needs to do it.

Young Hightower has a building by the port full of goodies, and Skite has a mind to walk away with all of them.

This is not the Skite you know. This is a Skite before Ella, before Lord Westhauser. This is the Skite that chose an assassin's life and commanded the control of the Rats for the first time. He doesn't care if anybody likes him. But he's still one of the cleverest men in the Black Docks, and when he sets his eye on a heist, it's going to be big, it's going to have a lot of moving parts, and it's going to change the way the future looks for a lot of people.

Meet Skite's crew, Brandyrose the hawk, Sly the thief, Ace the con, Sam the hitter, and Tinman the stone elf. They've got the biggest job they've ever attempted staring them in the face, and if they can make it happen, they're going to be rich for the rest of their lives. But that's not why a crew like this does what they do. They're all here because Skite's plans are the most challenging and the most fun, and he's got a winner for them, this time. Only they can do it, and only with Skite's skills for planning and execution.

Welcome back to Verida, in a time before anything you've yet seen. This is where a lot of things started...

Murderers and Thieves is a part of the greater Verida universe, and is recommended in sequence between The Queen's Seal, book 4 of The Queen's Chair series, and The Marriage of the White Princess, from the Murderers, Thieves, and Velvet series.