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Product Description
Product Description
The third novel in Camilleri's savagely witty, brilliantly evocative Sicilian mystery series featuring Inspector Montalbano
Book Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Snack Thief is a worthy successor to the remarkable police procedural, The Terra-Cotta Dog. Although few books could hope to match The Terra-Cotta Dog for plotting, The Snack Thief provides a more than adequate set of mysteries to keep the reader intrigued and delighted. The best feature of The Snack Thief though is much greater character development for the protagonist, Inspector Montalbano, and his girl friend Livia.
If you have not read other books in this series, I strongly urge you to read The Shape of Water and The Terra-Cotta Dog first. They will provide background on the characters that will add much to your enjoyment of The Snack Thief.
As the book begins, we see another side of the cheerful, capable Inspector Montalbano. He's having trouble sleeping when the police station's resident idiot, the telephone operator Catarella, calls with a nonsensical message about a death. Montalbano hangs up and unplugs the phone, ignoring the message.
When Montalbano finally makes it into the station, he finds that almost everyone has left to deal with the death of a Tunisian on an Italian fishing vessel that has come into Vigata. The Tunisian was killed by a warning shot from a Tunisian patrol vessel. Montalbano is glad to have avoided this political hot potato when another death is called in. Someone has found a man dead in an elevator.
Montalbano rejoices in being able to use this new death to avoid the first case and its inevitable complications. But can he escape handling that other case?
The police procedural aspects of this case are particularly rewarding. Inspector Montalbano works through all of the obvious details such as what floor was the elevator on before . . . and just keeps turning up new mysteries. The dead man has been going to the office of his business three days a week, even though he does no business there. Could it have anything to do with his attractive "cleaning" lady? As Inspector Montalbano learns more about the victim and his business, more mysteries keep appearing. Someone is stealing food from children on their way to school. Montalbano soon has every available officer out searching for the snack thief. Why? The solutions to the mysteries ultimate rely on remembering coincidences. It's a wonderful application of Occam's Razor.
The best part for me of this story came from the development of Montalbano's relationship with his girl friend, Livia. He cannot live with her . . . or without her. What will he do?
The book has the usual humorous side trips into Inspector Montalbano's love of food. Be sure to read the end notes to understand all about the dishes and the Italian history references.
I especially enjoyed the way that the story was resolved, as Inspector Montalbano blackmails the "hidden hand" behind the crimes to provide for an innocent.
The book reminded me of how important it is that we seek ways to help those who are powerless to help themselves.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When an elderly man is murdered in the elevator and a Tunesian fisherman is shot at sea, these events at first instance do not seem to be connected. But clever investigation work by inspector Montalbano reveals that there is a connection and the mother of a 5-year old boy plays a crucial role in this. When the mother disappears the girlfriend of the inspectors takes care of the little boy and a promise made to the boy forces the inspector to reconsider his position as a bachelor. In the meantime the investigation turns nastier and nastier and the people involved go higher up than one would care.
This is the third Camilleri book in succession that I read and I still enjoy the ambiance, the inspector and the descriptions of food and the good (and bad) life in Sicily.
This is the third Camilleri book in succession that I read and I still enjoy the ambiance, the inspector and the descriptions of food and the good (and bad) life in Sicily.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have to confess to being a fan of detective stories. After reading all the Aurelio Zen novels by the late Michael Dibdin I became hooked on Italian mysteries.I came across Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano in the first book of the series, 'The Shape of Water'. I enjoyed it so much I bought the second book, 'The Terracotta Dog'. 'The Snack Thief' is the third. Based in Sicily, Montalbano is a joy to follow. Humorous, eccentric, has a naughty side to him, doesn't want promoting, loves his food, naturally always wins through in the end but upsets a lot of people in the process. The characters are lifelike, the plots are entangled and misleading, and the background details of Sicily make the three books I have read so far a joy. Once picked up, difficult to put down! I have already bought the fourth book. Lets face it, anything recommended by Donna Leon has to be worth a try. If you too like detective stories and fancy a bit of light relief, you will get hooked on Andrea Camilleri and Inspector Montalbano.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Italiano
I started reading after seeing a few episodes on BBC4. The books are just as good; in fact the TV follows them closely. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Peter Munn
The Snack Thief
A jolly good read. I downloaded the preview and was hooked, so purchased immediately. I couldn't put it down and carried on reading whilst on a 3-hour car journey and finished it... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Italophile
At long last I've found a set of books I can't put down
I started reading Andrea Camilleri's books on holiday only a few weeks ago and I'm already on book 6 with the next three titles in the series on order from my library! Read more
Published 10 months ago by banburycake
Snack? More of a meal
This early novel in the wonderful Inspector Montalbano series of books is one of the best - though not quite on the same level as The Terracotta Dog, surely his finest, and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by GlynLuke
Charming Sicilian crime series with a sharp edge
On a recent trip to Italy, what better book to take with me for the journey than an instalment of Camilleri's sublime series of Sicilian crime stories? Read more
Published 15 months ago by Maxine Clarke
The Snack Thief Camillerie
A Camilleri fan I felt he did as well as usual in this book with humour and several unexpected twists. Look forward to reading the next title.
Published 15 months ago by G. Webber
The Snack Thief
Having read - and enjoyed - all of the Camilleri series, I would say this is one of his best.
Published 21 months ago by Hobart Bosley
excellant reading
I have now got quite a collection of Camilleri books every one of which I enjoyed thourghly.
Published on 9 Jan 2010 by Douglasmiller
Rejiggering the Jig-Saw Puzzle
The Snack Thief is a worthy successor to the remarkable police procedural, The Terra-Cotta Dog. Although few books could hope to match The Terra-Cotta Dog for plotting, The Snack... Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2004 by Donald Mitchell
The Mystery of the Tunisian Housekeeper
The is hugely popular (in Europe anyway) Inspector Montalbano series continues, with this installment following The Shape of Water and The Terra-Cotta Dog. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2003 by A. Ross
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