The Snack Thief - Andrea Camilleri

Whenanelderlymanisstabbedtodeathinanelevatorand acrewmanonanItalianfishingtrawlerismachine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily’s coast, only Inspector Montalbano suspects the 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.