Mistworld

Before Owen Deathstalker, there was the Twilight of the Empire
Mistworld. The day would come when it would be a key world in Owen Deathstalker's Rebellion. Now, it's as it's always been, a world on the edge of the Empire, a lawless one, shielded from the outside by powerful ESPers. A world where Leon Vertue can run his body bank, where a burglar like Cat has more to fear from other thieves than the Empress' justice, a world where Investigator Topaz is determined to make her mark.
Mistworld. Green moves his plot at top speed, and his characters are alive and his background solid. Baird Searles in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Mistworld has previously been published singly, as well as in the omnibus editions Twilight of the Empire (US) and Deathstalker Prelude (UK). Be sure to enjoy the other Prelude/Twilight of the Empire novels Ghostworld and Hellworld, and the entire Deathstalker series, all from New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green.