The Snack Thief

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.


The Mystery of the Tunisian Housekeeper   August 26, 2003
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

The is hugely popular (in Europe anyway) Inspector Montalbano series continues, with this installment following The Shape of Water and The Terra-Cotta Dog. The presence of Tunisian immigrants in Sicily is mined for mystery by Camilleri, as the stabbing of a retired businessman and the shooting of a Tunisian crewman on a fishing boat soon merge to one very tangled web. At the heart of it all is a missing housecleaner/prostitute names Karima and her son. As might be expected, there's some corruption just below the surface and Montalbano pursues justice with the quiet, dogged persistence and lengthy lunch breaks of his earlier two adventures. The intrigue is perhaps a little less intriguing than in the previous books, but there's more going on in Montalbano's private life to make up for it. Girlfriend Livia puts in a long appearance making the Inspector edgier and nastier than usual. It's roughly on par with the previous two books, but being the third book in the series, doesn't seem quite as fresh. As usual, the translation by Stephen Sartarelli is top notch.