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."