aye, I could trace back my travells through skyrim by following the DB assassins corpses by the roads.
Ugh, I'm so sick of those bloody assassins! One of my characters in particular is as law-abiding as they come, making it a point to never attack anyone who hasn't attacked her first (unless they're some kind of undead thing, because, really, screw skeletons), and yet she's
still had about four or five DB attempts on her life. The only non-hostile NPCs she kills are those Thalmor Justiciars you see escorting prisoners down roads, and even then she's careful to drag the bodies off into the woods or dump them in the nearest river. Who's gonna tell on her - the prisoner?
As for the whole overreaction to stealing issue, I wish there was a dialogue option for returning a 'borrowed' item. Just a simple line like, "Sorry, I accidentally picked this up," to which the NPC would reply with something like, "That's fine, thanks for returning it," or a surly, "Just watch where you put your hands next time."