Never has Inspector Montalbano's character – a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food - been more compelling than in Andrea Camilleri's third Montalbano novel, ** *The Snack Thief.***When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an It...

Never has Inspector Montalbano's character – a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food - been more compelling than in Andrea Camilleri's third Montalbano novel, ** *The Snack Thief.***When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an Italian fishing trawler is machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily’s coast, only Inspector Montalbano suspects a link between the two incidents.

His investigation leads to the beautiful Karima, an impoverished house-cleaner, whose young son steals other school children’s mid-morning snacks. But Karima disappears, and the young snack thief’s life – as well as Montalbano’s – is endangered when the inspector exposes a viper’s nest of government corruption and international intrigue.** The Snack Thief** is followed by the fourth Inspector Montalbano novel, The Voice of the Violin .