Little Thieves Books in Order

Little Thieves is a young adult fantasy trilogy centered on Vanja Schmidt, a clever thief with a talent for making a bad situation more complicated. It begins as a fresh take on The Goose Girl, told from the maid's side of the story. Vanja has spent years being used, abandoned, and told what she is worth, so she decides to steal a future for herself instead.

The setting is the Blessed Empire of Almandy, a place of nobles, saints, old magic, and Low Gods who can make or ruin a life. Vanja was raised by Death and Fortune, but their care came with a debt. Using enchanted pearls, she takes the identity of Princess Gisele and lives a double life, playing princess by day and robbing the wealthy as the Penny Phantom.

She is very good at plans. The plans are rarely simple.

In Little Thieves, Vanja is close to buying her freedom when a curse begins turning her into jewels, piece by piece. She has only weeks to find a way out. The job brings her into conflict with Gisele's fiancé, a dangerous half-god, and Emeric Conrad, a young prefect-in-training determined to investigate the thief behind the red penny.

Painted Devils picks up with Vanja trying to build a more honest life and learn about the family she lost. A small scam turns into a much larger problem when she accidentally starts a cult around the Scarlet Maiden, a god she invented. When that god appears to be real and puts Emeric in danger, Vanja has to confront the consequences of a lie that has grown far beyond her control.

The final book, Holy Terrors, finds Vanja working as the Pfennigeist, helping people the law has failed while avoiding the people she loves. A killer begins leaving her signature red penny at murders of royals, forcing Vanja back into a case with Emeric as an imperial succession crisis grows. The trilogy keeps widening from heists and curses into questions of justice, responsibility, and whether a person can change without pretending the past never happened.

Expect sharp humor, fairy-tale logic with teeth, romance that develops through friction and trust, and a heroine who is never as heartless as she claims. Start with Little Thieves, then read Painted Devils and Holy Terrors in order.