Rabbi David Small is spiritual leader of the Conservative Jewish synagogue in Barnard's Crossing, Massachusetts.

He is married and is soon to become a father for the first time. Small is physically unimposing, a pale, thin man of medium height who walks with a scholarly stoop. He is inattentive to details of dress, often appearing in public in clothes so wrinkled they look as if they have been slept in. In spite of his wife's attentive care, Small remains unconcerned about grooming and appearance. But his cluttered and disordered exterior belies a sharp, perceptive, and active mind. In each adventure, he becomes aware of a crime because it involves his temple or someone associated with it, and once it has come to his attention he seeks a solution in a cool, detached, intellectual manner. He sets about solving a crime as if he were disputing some minor point...