Never has Inspector Montalbano's character -- a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food -- been more compelling than in 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.