Never has Inspector Montalbano's character -- a unique blend of humor cynicism compassion earthiness & love of good food -- been more compelling than in The Snack Thief. When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator & 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 & sometime prostitute whose young son steals other school children's mid-morning snacks. But Karima disappears & the young snack thief's life -- as well as Montalbano's -- is endangered when the inspector exposes a viper's nest of government corruption & international intrigue.