In regards to Brust (and its very pleasant to see that he is at least known, usually its a "who?") I really liked his first 5 or 6 Vlad books, then they started to lose something. I seem to remember one "about the author" where he changed his whole view on assassination...which kind of limits a book about an assassin
Can't be bothered to dig through the box I haven't unpacked yet, but thought it had to do with being morally wrong - possibly occurring around the Orca novel.