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 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.
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