More mysteries for Inspector Montalbano to investigate and in this third book we see slightly more of the personal side of our protagonist as his relationship with Livia develops. Still lots of food mentions to savour and if they make you peckish check out the notes at the back of the book describing some of the dishes further.
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.
Andrea Camilleri is one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers. His Montalbano series has been adapted for Italian television and translated into nine languages. He lives in Rome.
His Inspector Salvo Montalbano has garnered millions of fans worldwide with his sardonic, engaging take on Sicilian small-town life and his genius for deciphering the most enigmatic of crimes. Both farcical and endearing, Montalbano is a cross between Columbo and Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, with the added culinary idiosyncrasies of an Italian Maigret’ and if you like authors such as Alexander McCall Smith, Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin you really should try some of his novels.
