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Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small Murder Mysteries

Temple Sinai, a Conservative Synagogue in Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA is recognized as the prototype for Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small Mysteries. I lived in Marblehead and I was a member of the synagogue, and I really enjoyed it.

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Here is Wikipedia's article about Harry Kemelman:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kemelman

 

Harry Kemelman

Born: Boston, Massachusetts

Died: December 15, 1996 (aged 88)

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Occupation: Writer, Teacher

Language: English

Residence: Marblehead, Massachusetts

Nationality: : Bachelors, Masters in Linguistics

Alma mater: Boston University (1930), Harvard (1931)

Period1964–1996

Genre: Mystery

Subject: Religion

Notable works: Friday the Rabbi Slept Late

Notable awards: Edgar Award, Best First Novel, 1965

Years active: 1964–1996

Spouse: Anne Kessin Kemelman

Children: Diane Volk, Ruth Rooks, Arthur Kemelman

Harry Kemelman (November 24, 1908 — December 15, 1996) was an American mystery writer and a professor of English. He was the creator of the fictional religious sleuth Rabbi David Small.

 

 

First Rabbi Small novel, which was the basis for the TV film and series, Lanigan's Rabbi.

 

Contents

1Early life

2Writing career

3Adaptations

4Death

5Bibliography

5.1The Nicky Welt Stories

5.2The Rabbi Small Novels

5.3Non-fiction

6References

7External links

Early life[edit]

Harry Kemelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1908.

 

After receiving a B.A. in English Literature from Boston University and an M.A. in English philology from Harvard, he taught at a number of schools before World War II. During the war, Kemelman worked as wage administrator for the United States Army Transportation Corps in Boston and later for the War Assets Administration. Following the war, he was a freelance writer and private businessman. In 1963 he became 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.

 

Writing career[edit]

His writing career began with short stories for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine featuring New England college professor Nicky Welt, the first of which, "The Nine Mile Walk", is considered a classic.

 

The Rabbi Small series began in 1964 with the publication of Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, which became a huge bestseller, a difficult achievement for a religious mystery, and won Kemelman a 1965 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The Rabbi Small books are not only mysteries but also considerations of Conservative Judaism.

 

Adaptations[edit]

Kemelman also received $35,000 for the movie rights to Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, a made-for-TV adaptation of which was broadcast on NBC in 1976, starring Art Carney as Chief Lanigan and Stuart Margolin as Rabbi Small. A short-lived TV series, Lanigan's Rabbi, shown as part of NBC's Mystery Movie series in January 1977, was based on the book series. Art Carney played Chief Lanigan with Bruce Solomon as Rabbi Small.

 

In 2003, director Alvaro Brechner shot in Toledo, Spain an adaptation of The Nine Mile Walk. The film was shown in more than 100 international film festivals, obtaining several awards.

 

Death[edit]

Kemelman died in 1996, at the age of 88, in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[1]

 

Bibliography[edit]

The Nicky Welt Stories[edit]

"The Nine Mile Walk" – 1947

"The Straw Man" – 1950

"The Ten O'Clock Scholar" – 1952

"End Play" – 1950

"Time and Time Again (The Man with Two Watches)" – 1962

"The Whistling Tea Kettle (The Adelphi Bowl)" – 1963

"The Bread and Butter Case (A Winter's Tale)" – 1962

"The Man on the Ladder" – 1967

Collected in The Nine Mile Walk – 1967

The Rabbi Small Novels [edit]

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late – 1964

Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry – 1966

Sunday, the Rabbi Stayed Home – 1969

Monday The Rabbi Took Off – 1972

Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red – 1973

Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet – 1976

Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out – 1978

Conversations with Rabbi Small – 1981

Someday the Rabbi Will Leave – 1985

One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross – 1987

The Day the Rabbi Resigned – 1992

That Day the Rabbi Left Town – 1996

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Uploaded on March 28, 2020