Scoundrels

Scoundrels will be a novel written by Timothy Zahn, which has a release date set for January 1, 2013. The novel takes place before the events in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and will feature Han Solo and Chewbacca in an "Ocean's Eleven-type heist caper." The book was first announced at the Del Rey Star Wars books panel at the 2011 New York Comic-Con.

Publisher's summary
To make his biggest score, Han’s ready to take even bigger risks. But even he can’t do this job solo. ''Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han’s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he’s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There’s a bounty on Han’s head—and if he can’t cough up the credits, he’ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king’s ransom. Or maybe a gangster’s fortune? That’s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han’s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba—and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.'' ''All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy’s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers. . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both—including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike—and pull off the heist of the century—it’s Solo’s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?''

Development
"Just announced at our Del Rey Star Wars books panel: Drew Karpyshyn will write a fourth novel that will tie into The Old Republic for Fall 2012 and Tim Zahn will write a new novel starring Han Solo set in the classic films era. More details to come on both as they develop."

- Erich Schoeneweiss

At 2011's New York City ComiCon, it was revealed at the Del Rey Star Wars Books panel that Timothy Zahn would be writing a novel starring Han Solo and set during the original trilogy.

Timothy Zahn announced via Facebook that his story was approved officially on February 22, 2012. The release date of this book was initially placed as "Winter 2012," which was later cemented as December 26, 2012. On October 1, 2012, the release date of all Random House books coming out on the twenty-sixth was pushed back to January 1, 2013.

Behind the scenes
While devising the story for Scoundrels, Timothy Zahn drew inspiration from the film Ocean's 11, starring Frank Sinatra, which was later remade with George Clooney.