Drake Maijstral, a dispossessed aristocrat and master thief, is commissioned to steal the invaluable jeweled box that has become the focus of the power struggle between the Khosali alien conquerors and the successfully rebellious Humans

Drake Maijstral and Geoff Fu George, two renowned Allowed Burglars, vie for the honor of successfully stealing a spectacular necklace known as the Eltdown Shard

He's the Human Constellation's number-one-rated Allowed Burglar, one of a very select few permitted to rob the public and keep his plunder - provided he performs with style and avoids getting caught before the caper is broadcast galaxy-wide to his enormous audience. Drake is so famous as an Allowed Burglar that he has been invited to join the Diadem, the group of celebrities who are well-known enough to need only one name, and whose every movement is recorded and broadcast, and sighed over by billions of humans and aliens in both the Empire and the Human Constellation. Maijstral has made himself a legend by declining to join. But being Number One has its drawbacks. Suddenly you become the target of every other Allowed Burglar in the system. You can't go anywhere without being suspected of every theft that occurs, and your friends suddenly become all too cautious about their valuables. And then there are the Duels. Drake Maijstral can tolerate the constant suspicion and the suddenly canceled invitations. But the challenges to fight to the death over imagined breaches of hospitality are too much for him. The last straw comes when Drake himself is the victim of a burglary that is clearly a challenge to his status. Someone has stolen Drake's father's coffin, the hibernation module that maintains the old Duke in his status as Legally Dead. Clearly, something must be done.

The Drake Magistral series. 1. The Crown Jewels (1987) + 2. House of Shards (1988) + 3. Rock of Ages (1995) in one big book. The Crown Jewels: In this light-hearted romp through a decadent interstellar empire, an aristocratic thief is commissioned to steal a jeweled box. Everyone wants the box. And the person who has it is in for a whole lot of trouble. By the author of Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind. House of Shards: Drake Maijstral, the most daring Allowed Burglar in the galaxy, is now setting his sights on the Eltdown Shard, a spectacular necklace embodying the flame of a dying star. Through the media vids, the audience watches him—in an intricate plot designed to both steal the necklace and foil his major rival. Rock of Ages: The saga of Drake Maijstral, introduced in The Crown Jewels, continues. Drake is the number one rated Allowed Burglar in the Human Constellation, a vast-galaxy spanning confederation that exists side-by-side with the ancient Khosali Empire—but nearly everyone he meets seems to want to challenge him to a duel to the death.