The Snack Thief — Andrea Camilleri

Never has Inspector Montalbano's character--a unique end of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food--been more compelling an in The Snack Thief.

When an elderly man is man 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 Montalbano, with his keen insight into human nature, suspects the link between the two incidents. His investigation leads to the beautiful Karima, an impoverished housecleaner and sometime prostitute, whose young son steals other schoolchildren's midmorning snacks. But Karima disappears, an 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.