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 and sometime prostitute, 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.