Friday the Rabbi Slept Late

Harry Kemelman

Nov 2012 · Recorded Books · Narrated by George Guidall

About this audiobook

Young and unassuming Rabbi David Small sorts through puzzling pieces of mysteries with logic straight from the Talmud. In Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, a shocking discovery on the temple grounds threatens to ruin both the diligent rabbi and the entire Jewish community at Barnard's Crossing. Unaware that his congregation is grumbling about his rumpled appearance and absent-minded manner, Rabbi Small spends long hours poring over scholarly books. But he is forced to face his congregants' discontent when the police discover a young woman's body outside the temple-and her handbag in his car. Suddenly Rabbi Small must study motives and uncover the killer, or lose more than his followers. Best-selling author Harry Kemelman fills his shrewdly plotted mysteries with likeable and cunning characters who could be your next door neighbors. Personally approved for this unabridged recording by the author's estate, veteran narrator George Guidall expertly brings the harried rabbi and his mutinous congregation to life.

Ratings and reviews

law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, family-dynamics, friendship, Jewish, Jewish-law, prejudice, small-town, amateur-sleuth***** Came back to read the first in series because I wanted to know how the Rabbi got to be friends with the police chief. This one comes near the end of Rabbi Small's firs and possibly last year in the town. There is contention within the politics of the congregation and things get muddier when a young woman is killed and Rabbi Small seems to be implicated. Great story with lessons for all sleuths. George Guidell is the calm narrator with a wry sense of humor.

About the author

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. George Guidall is one of the most prolific narrators of audiobooks in the world. He has recorded nearly 650 unabridged novels, everything from "Crime and Punishment" and "The Iliad" to "Snow Falling on Cedars." He began his career as an actor, appearing on Broadway and touring Europe with Helen Hayes in the "Glass Menagerie," " Miracle Worker" and "The Skin of Our Teeth." He received an Obie Award for Best Performance Off-Broadway, and has continued his performances in theater for over 40 years. Guidall has also appeared on television, with roles on the soap "One Life to Live" and "Law and Order," and in movies such as "Malcolm X" and "Tales from the Darkside." His first job reading audiobooks was for the Library of Congress' American Foundation for the Blinds' Talking Books. Since then he has won the most prestigious Audiobook Award, the Audie Award, for Best Unabridged Narration of a novel for his recording of John Irving's "A Widow for One Year." He won the Audie again in 2000 for Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True."