Harry Kemelman

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Harry Kemelman (1908-1996) was an American mystery writer and a professor of English.

Harry Kemelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1908. He was the creator of one of the most famous religious sleuths, Rabbi David Small.

After having received a B.A. in English Literature and a M.A. at Harvard in English philology, he taught in a number of schools before World War II. Afterwards, Kemelman worked as wage administrator for the United States Army Transportation Corps in Boston and subsequently for the War Assets Administration, and as a free-lance writer and a private businessman. In 1963 he was appointed assistant professor of English at the Franklin Technical Institute in Boston. He was also an assistant professor at Boston State College in the 1960s.

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. He also received $35,000 for the movie rights.

Lanigan's Rabbi, shown as part of NBC's Mystery Movie series in January 1977, was based on the novel. Art Carney played Chief Lanigan and Bruce Solomon was Rabbi Small.

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