Harry Kemelman - Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home

No one said anything, and then Paff muttered something in his deep bass to Doc Edelstein.

“What’s that?” Gorfinkle looked up. “Did you say something. Mr. Paff?”

Paff raised his big voice and said. “All I said was that goes double—sometimes the congregation needs a rest from the rabbi.”

Brennerman laughed. Edelstein chuckled. Jacobs guffawed. Then they all laughed and kept on laughing. And Gorfinkle said. “You may have something there. Meyer, By God. I think this time you really hit the nail on the head.”

Born in Boston. Massachusetts in 1908, Harry Kemelman was the creator of perhaps one of the most famous religious sleuths: Rabbi David Small. 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 to be a classic (the Welt stories were later grouped into a collection with the same title). The Rabbi Small series began in 1964, with Friday the Rabbi Slept Late. It went on to become a bestseller, and won Kemelman an Edgar for “Best First Novel” in 1965. Kemelman died in 1996.