Harry Kemelman (November 24, 1908 – December 15, 1996) was an American

mystery writer Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reas ...

and a professor of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He was the creator of the fictitious religious sleuth Rabbi David Small.

Early life

Harry Kemelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1908. After receiving a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English Literature from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, he taught at a number of schools before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the war, Kemelman worked as wage administrator for the

United States Army Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qu ...

in Boston and later for the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Ord ...

. 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 Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology is a private nonprofit college of engineering and industrial technologies in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established in 1908 with funds bequeathed in Benjamin Franklin's will. History Benjam ...

in Boston. He was also an assistant professor at

Boston State College Boston State College was a public university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. History Boston State College's roots began with the Girls' High School, which was founded in 1852. In 1872, the Boston Normal School separated from Girl ...

in the 1960s.

Writing career

His writing career began with short stories for ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

'' 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 ''Friday the Rabbi Slept Late'' is a 1964 mystery novel by Harry Kemelman, the first of the successful ''Rabbi Small'' series. Plot introduction The fictional hero of the book, David Small, is the unconventional leader of the Conservative Jew ...

'', which became a huge bestseller, a difficult achievement for a religious mystery, and won Kemelman a 1965

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best First Novel. The Rabbi Small books are not only mysteries, but also considerations of

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

Adaptations

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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

in 1976. The film starred

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed ...

as Chief Lanigan and

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series ''The Rockford Files''. In 1973, h ...

as Rabbi Small. A short-lived TV series, ''

Lanigan's Rabbi ''Lanigan's Rabbi'' is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from January 30 to April 24, 1977. Synopsis Based upon a series of novels by Harry Kemelman, the series stars Art Carney as Police Chief Paul Lanigan, who fights crime in ...

'', shown as part of

's '' Mystery Movie'' series in January 1977, was based on the book series.

played Chief Lanigan with

Bruce Solomon Bruce Peter Solomon is an American film and television actor, best known for the roles of Sgt. Foley in the TV show ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' and Kenny Zuckerman in ''Beverly Hills, 90210''. Television and film Solomon starred as the tit ...

as Rabbi Small. In 2003, director Alvaro Brechner shot an adaptation of The Nine Mile Walk in

Toledo, Spain Toledo ( , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. Toledo was declare ...

. The film was shown in more than 100 international film festivals, garnering several awards.

Death

Kemelman died in 1996, at the age of 88, in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends ...

Bibliography

The Nicky Welt stories

# "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

# ''

'' – 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 (largely a dialogue about Judaism with a young couple Small meets on vacation) # ''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

Non-fiction

* ''Common Sense in Education'' – 1970

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemelman, Harry 1908 births 1996 deaths American mystery writers Edgar Award winners Writers from Boston Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Boston State College faculty Harvard University alumni Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology faculty 20th-century American novelists People from Marblehead, Massachusetts Jewish American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts 20th-century American Jews