Friday the rabbi slept late Book

I was skimming through my TBR shelf and having a hard time deciding what to read next. Although I had read this a long time ago I had picked it up when I saw it on sale at Amazon. It is a short book (208 pages) and I decided now was a good time to reread this gem.

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late was published in 1964 and won a 1965 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. At the time it was a huge bestseller and was the beginning of a new series ... the Rabbi Small mysteries. One of the charms of the book was not only do we have a mystery but the opportunity to learn something about Jewish culture.

David Small is the rabbi in the small Massachusetts town of Barnard's Crossing. He is young and relatively new having been there for about one year. In fact his contract is up renewal. He has supporters but there are those who do not see him as their view of what a rabbi should be. When the body of a young nanny, Elspeth Bleech, is found on the temple property and her purse in the rabbi's car he becomes a suspect in the crime.

Hugh Lanigan is the Irish-Catholic police chief of Barnard's Crossing and initially questions Rabbi Small because Elspeth Bleech's body was found on the temple grounds and her purse was in his car. But a bond develops between the two and what appears to be the start of a friendship. They have several enjoyable and scholarly conversations. When things start turning nasty in the small town Rabbi Small employs his Talmudic wisdom and scholarly skill to solve the crime and reveal the identify of the murderer.

Although this story centers around the murder of a young woman there is not a lot of violence. The crime itself is described briefly and only out of necessity. Rabbi Small is a very likable character as is Hugh Lanigan. There are several characters who are not so likable so you are left guessing which one may be the murderer. Overall this was a very enjoyable little mystery. In the summertime perhaps a nice choice for a beach read. Or a good bedtime read at anytime. Now that I have read this I am going to have to read Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry.