Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home

A Rabbi Small Mystery, Book 3

By: Harry Kemelman

Narrated by: George Guidall

With his absorbing mystery series, best-selling author Harry Kemelman transports you to the closely-knit Jewish community at Barnard’s Crossing, a small city near Boston. Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home portrays the unassuming Rabbi Small joyously preparing to celebrate Passover. However, the holiday season is marred when local violence, racism, and misplaced pride run amok. Miffed over the sanctuary’s new seating policy, several families are secretly planning to start their own temple in an unoccupied mansion in the country. When some teenagers break into the house for a party - and one ends up dead - the temple plot is interrupted. Suddenly Rabbi Small must discover what really happened, or the whole community will self-destruct. Savvy Rabbi Small combines earthly chutzpah and divine wisdom to solve the mysterious death that has the entire police force befuddled. Personally approved for this unabridged recording by the author’s estate, veteran narrator George Guidall breathes life into the persistent rabbi and his ambitious congregants.

©1969 Harry Kemelman (P)1998 Recorded Books

Not the best but good

I enjoy this series but the plot wasn't quite as clever as in other Rabbi tales.

Another good series installment

This is another interesting installment in the series. This is a simple mystery, which was the norm for the time it was written, intertwined with the politics of the temple.

dated, corny, yet engaging and entertaining

Remember when the men used to tell "their" womenfolk to make the guests coffee? Remember when temple/church were community cornerstones? Gender, ethnic and racially defined roles make this series a social history lesson (and in some places a caricature), but the novels still stand as cozy mysteries with the wise Rabbi-sleuth making astute observation on human nature, even if some of the social roles being filled by the humans are outdated.

George Guidall voices the series well. I listened to the first three, and I think after a break, I'll return to Barnard's Crossing and Rabbi Small's world. I'm just glad, as a women, I don't have to live there. I remember these titles from the bookstores of my youth and I'm glad to have an opportunity to listen to another classic religious-sleuth.

Refreshingly fun

These books are really well done. 60 years have not made them at all anachronistic. This was a refreshing read.

Great series!!

I really enjoy the mystery… how it’s all set up!
Characters are interesting and the times it is set in …. Sadly i wish I could have a conversation with the Rabbi and share some of my interpretations of several Old Testament scriptures….🤷🏻‍♀️… I sometimes get caught up in the fiction‼️

As enjoyable as its predecessors

I will continue with the next in the series. I’m especially curious to read of the Rabbi’s trip to Israel.

Rabbi Small does it again

The 3 books I’ve listened to so far (Fri, Sat, now Sun) have been nice quite listening. The rabbi doesn’t say a whole lot but when he dies it’s profound. Also George Guidall is my favorite narrator by a mile.

A good mystery solved with logic.

A good book but a little dated, as should be expected.
One of a series over a period of time.

Roots for Jews

Love it although it’s dated. One must realize the times when it was written and then can forgive some anachronisms.

Timely for 2021

amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, small-town, Jewish, Jewish-law, murder, murder-investigation, suspicion*****

I think that the publisher's blurb should be rewritten after all these years. Originally published June 1, 1969, this story is timely for 2021 just as it was then. The attitude of the Jewish and non-Jewish people of Barnard's Crossing, Massachusetts might just surprise some of the current protesters.
The story begins with synagogue politics near Passover and moves into murder and marijuana sales with local college students in the middle. The local police tend toward a nonresident, but Rabbi Small has no such agenda. Good story and particularly apt.
George Guidall is well suited as narrator.