Harry Kemelman (1908–1996)
Author of Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
About the Author
Harry Kemelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1908. After studying English Literature at Boston University and earning an M.A. from Harvard University in 1931, Kemelman worked as a teacher in several Boston high schools, and later became a private businessman. During this time, he also show more pursued a career as a freelance writer. Kemelman is best known for his mystery-based rabbi books about David Small, a rabbi who solves murder cases. His early stories appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. His first rabbi novel, Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, received the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1964. Some of Kemelman's other novels in the rabbi series include Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry, Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home, Monday the Rabbi Took Off, and Conversations with Rabbi Small. He died in 1996, at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Harry Kemelman
Associated Works
Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1966 v04: Don Quixote, USA / All in the Family / Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry / The Gift of the Deer / Brothers of the Sea (1966) — Author — 40 copies
The Mystery Hall of Fame: An Anthology of Classic Mystery and Suspense Stories (1984) — Contributor — 36 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Tree Frog • Eighth Moon • Come Back, Geordie • Madame Curie • Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry (1967) — Contributor — 6 copies
Den lystige bedemand og andre hårrejsende historier af gæster i Poe-klubben (1975) — Author, some editions — 3 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1908-11-24
- Date of death
- 1996-12-15
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Boston University (BA, English)
Harvard University (MA, Linguistics) - Occupations
- teacher
mystery writer
professor (English) - Organizations
- Northwestern University
U.S. Army Transportation Corps
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
Boston State College - Short biography
- Harry Kemelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Isaac Kemelman and his wife Dora Prizer.
After receiving a B.A. in English literature from Boston University and an M.A. in linguistics from Harvard, he taught at a number of public schools and also night classes at Northeastern University. During World War II, he worked for the U.S. Army Transportation Corps in Boston and later for the War Assets Administration. Following the war, he became a freelance writer and private businessman. In 1963, he was appointed assistant professor of English at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston. He was also an assistant professor at Boston State College in the 1960s.
His literary career began with short stories published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
His debut book, Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (1964), became a massive bestseller, a difficult achievement for a religious-themed mystery, and won Kemelman the 1965 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The popular Rabbi Small series continued for more than 30 years and comprised a total of 11 books. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late was adapted into a television film by NBC in 1976, and was the basis of a short-lived TV series, Lanigan's Rabbi, which aired on the network in 1977.
In 2003, Kemelman's classic short story "The Nine Mile Walk" was made into a feature film in Toledo, Spain. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA - Place of death
- Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Reviews
When a young woman’s body is found near the Jewish temple in a small town in Massachusetts, the young rabbi comes under suspicion. After all, the woman’s handbag was found in his car. Rabbi Small uses his Talmudic reasoning skills to deduce the killer’s identity. Meanwhile, Rabbi Small is nearing the end of his first year with his congregation, and the board is divided about extending his contract for another year.
I’ve been aware of this series for as long as I can remember. I’m show more not sure what took me so long to start it. I love the logical, analytical nature of this book. Readers can use the same logic to arrive at the same conclusion as the rabbi. There are other fictional detectives who use logic and reason to solve crimes, such as Christie’s Poirot with his “little grey cells” and Stout’s Nero Wolfe in his arm chair. Rabbi Small isn’t as intimidating as these other fictional detectives. His mind isn’t a black box for the reader. The reader knows exactly what he’s thinking. The audio version is narrated by one of my favorite readers, George Guidall. If the series continues the way it began, I can see it becoming one of my favorites. show less
I’ve been aware of this series for as long as I can remember. I’m show more not sure what took me so long to start it. I love the logical, analytical nature of this book. Readers can use the same logic to arrive at the same conclusion as the rabbi. There are other fictional detectives who use logic and reason to solve crimes, such as Christie’s Poirot with his “little grey cells” and Stout’s Nero Wolfe in his arm chair. Rabbi Small isn’t as intimidating as these other fictional detectives. His mind isn’t a black box for the reader. The reader knows exactly what he’s thinking. The audio version is narrated by one of my favorite readers, George Guidall. If the series continues the way it began, I can see it becoming one of my favorites. show less
I know I sampled these books when I was in my late teens (they were relatively new at that time), but remember very little about them. I think they may have been too "instructive" for me then. This first entry in the series is almost more a primer on Judaism than a mystery novel, and at this point in my life, with a better foundation of knowledge of that subject, I loved it. Rabbi Small, assigned to a Conservative congregation near Boston, finds himself somewhat at odds with many of the show more members, who seem more interested in the social aspects of the temple than in practicing their religion. With his contract up for discussion by the Board, it isn't helpful when the body of a young woman is found propped against the low wall between the temple's parking lot and its grassy lawn, and her purse turns up inside the Rabbi's car which had been parked in the lot overnight. Naturally the Rabbi must be considered a suspect, though even the investigating police chief does not expect him to turn out to be a murderer (or even an adulterer), and the Rabbi himself is barely bothered by the possibility. Board members are divided on whether it would be good or bad to terminate his contract, and keep postponing a vote. Rabbi Small is a sleuth of the cerebral variety, in company with Poirot/Wolfe/Holmes, not the gumshoe variety, so there isn't a lot of action in this novel. His Talmudic training makes him very well suited to methodical exploration of the facts and circumstances, leading to the real culprit and a tidy solution. Also in common with the big three mentioned above, the Rabbi is a man to be admired, not necessarily to be liked. As his wife mentions to Chief Lanigan, "David may change the world, but the world will never change David." Amen to that, is what I say. show less
Once again, the Rabbi has to solve a murder to overcome the nitwits in his synagogue who are more interested in their own personal agendas than in doing the right thing. The formula is exactly the same as in the first book, but it hasn't grown old yet. What is a little jarring is the 1960s setting, against the background of the civil rights movement. The book's references and attitudes seem more than a bit out of date, but the rabbi DOES have his own opinions about things, so part of it is show more probably the rabbi's responsibility rather than the author's! The crime itself is cleverly solved, but it is just a plot device that enables the rabbi to overcome his adversaries and prove his superior thought processes. Now that I'm used to the character, I actually enjoyed this better than the first book. The audiobook versions are an ideal way to get into the series, since the narrator does a really great job. The next thing you know, you'll be eating lunch in your car every day so you have an excuse to listen longer. show less
Back in the day, I read the entire week’s worth of novels featuring Rabbi David Small, the sole Jewish leader in the small town of Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts. Usually, the mysteries were cleverly crafted, sometimes less so. I began with the first, the Edgar Award-winning Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, and finished with the last novel, 1978’s Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out. Or so I thought.
Author Harry Kemelman took a break, but then resumed writing more novels. I thought the show more mystery in Someday the Rabbi Will Leave (first released in 1985) ingenious, and I had forgotten what an instinct Kemelman, a college professor rather than a rabbi, had for human nature, both good although mostly bad. But I had forgotten what an annoying prig Rabbi Small is.
But don’t take it from me. Listen of one of Small’s temple members:
Well, maybe not the only one who knows anything, but certainly Rabbi Small thinks himself the only one with a reliable moral compass. It’s definitely his way or the highway. The synagogue is supposed to be an amalgam of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jewry (there not being enough Jews to support more than one temple), but, in truth, the religion is Smallism, with ideas that were falling out of favor with Conservative Judaism even in the late 1970s when I went to a mostly Jewish high school in Miami. It would spoil the novel for you if I told you the particular instance, but trust me on this one.
That said, the mystery, the philosophical/religious discussion and the insight into human nature in Someday the Rabbi Will Leave were so excellent that this ninth book (and eighth mystery) in the Rabbi Small series remains a five-star read. I read it in just a few hours. And there’s no greater recommendation than that! show less
Author Harry Kemelman took a break, but then resumed writing more novels. I thought the show more mystery in Someday the Rabbi Will Leave (first released in 1985) ingenious, and I had forgotten what an instinct Kemelman, a college professor rather than a rabbi, had for human nature, both good although mostly bad. But I had forgotten what an annoying prig Rabbi Small is.
But don’t take it from me. Listen of one of Small’s temple members:
…[H]e acts so damn superior. According to my old man, in the old days the rabbi was the big noise in the community. He was the one educated man and everyone used to defer to him on that account. And Rabbi Small goes on like that, like we’re back in the nineteenth century and he’s the only one who knows anything.
Well, maybe not the only one who knows anything, but certainly Rabbi Small thinks himself the only one with a reliable moral compass. It’s definitely his way or the highway. The synagogue is supposed to be an amalgam of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jewry (there not being enough Jews to support more than one temple), but, in truth, the religion is Smallism, with ideas that were falling out of favor with Conservative Judaism even in the late 1970s when I went to a mostly Jewish high school in Miami. It would spoil the novel for you if I told you the particular instance, but trust me on this one.
That said, the mystery, the philosophical/religious discussion and the insight into human nature in Someday the Rabbi Will Leave were so excellent that this ninth book (and eighth mystery) in the Rabbi Small series remains a five-star read. I read it in just a few hours. And there’s no greater recommendation than that! show less
Lists
Edgar Award (1)
Favorite Series (1)
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 30
- Also by
- 14
- Members
- 7,591
- Popularity
- #3,215
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 143
- ISBNs
- 327
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 6