The Snack Thief continues to improve the series. Not only is the story a good one but, for the first time, I found Montalbano starting to come alive. It's not just that the story involves his personal life a bit more, Camilleri also gives us those little moments that tell us about his character and those little insights into Montalbano's thoughts that make him more real. I start to see and, more importantly, understand the aspects of him that aren't just profane and in-your-face—the fears and compassions Camilleri put into this story make him more human.

It goes beyond the main character. Montalbano's girlfriend, Livia, becomes more than just a voice on the phone or a body in the bed. Even the town of Vigata and the local police station are starting to take on definition.

I don't think I'm ever going to rave about this series the way others do; it just doesn't mesh with my tastes well enough. It won't be one of those where I'm watching avidly for the next volume. However, I will pick up the fourth at some point and read it, then the fifth someday... ( )

Finito l'effetto sorpresa che ho avuto leggendo i primi due romanzi della serie, Camilleri / Montalbano è ormai per me diventato una garanzia. Garanzia di leggere un giallo molto piacevole e divertente. Ho gia' aggiunto il quarto della serie ("La voce del violino") alla mia wish list. ( )

A Tunisian patrol boat kills a worker on an Italian fishing trawler, and a retired business man, Mr. Lapecora, is found dead in the elevator of his apartment building with a knife in his back. What possible connection could there be? In the style we've now come to expect of Andrea Camilleri, in this, the third novel in the Inspector Montalbano series, seemingly disparate events are part of the course for our cantankerous protagonist. Events that will eventually lead Montalbano into the world of international terrorism, government corruption, the shadowy underworld of the Italian secret service, and the adoption of 'the Snack Thief'.

In this book Camilleri delivers a master class in character development. If we have come to know the curmudgeon Montalbano in the first two books, it has been only skin deep. In this outing we are given a window into his soul. With news that his father has only a short time to live, and his relationship with Livia brought to head through their relationship with a young orphaned child; Montalbano's professional and private worlds collide explosively with yet unknown consequences for the future.

The best in the series to date, "The Snack Thief" promises rich rewards for the reader committed to following Montalbano's journey through, projecting him headlong and breathless into the next book, "The Voice of the Violin". ( )

A good yarn with plenty of atmosphere. ( )

Excellent story. You can smell the food and Sicily -and the sun. ( )