A Slight Trick of the Mind

By: Mitch Cullin

Narrated by: Simon Jones

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

He's 93-years-old, in retirement in Sussex, beginning to lose his memory, and subject to emotions he has resisted all his life. His name is Sherlock Holmes.

It's 1947, and the long-retired Holmes lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with a housekeeper and her young son, Roger. Holmes has recently returned from war-torn Japan and settled into the routine of tending his apiary, writing in his journals, and grappling with the waning powers of his once razor-sharp mind. Then Roger secretly searches Holmes' private study and uncovers the case of Mrs. Keller, the long-ago object of the legendary sleuth's deep, and never acknowledged, infatuation.

As Cullin weaves together Holmes' hidden past, his poignant struggle to retain mental acuity, and his unlikely relationship with Roger, who stirs his paternal affection, a mythic figure is transformed into an ordinary man. At once an engrossing mystery and a gripping character study, A Slight Trick of the Mind is an affecting and original portrait of literature's most beloved detective in the twilight of his illustrious life.

©2005 Mitch Cullin (P)2005 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Winner, Fiction (Unabridged)

"An ambitious, beautifully written novel....This look at Holmes near his natural death is a delight and a deeply satisfying read." (Publishers Weekly)
"This is a lovely, tenderhearted book, full of reserve, good manners, elegance of feeling. It's what a novel should be. You don't read it to be "improved", but for the plain joy of seeing what the language can do in the hands of an affectionate, very accomplished writer." (The Washington Post)
"Under Cullin's sure hand, the vibrant, assured detective we know gives way to a man who looks back with regret at missed opportunities in a manner that makes the larger-than-life figure surprisingly human." (Booklist)

As clever as the Great Detective himself!

First of all, Simon Jones is a superior reader, but this book is such a skillful interweaving of storylines and such a poignant examination of the role of memory and emotional pain in making us who we are that I am unreserved in my praise. I am wary of books that use an established literary character as protagonist, often finding the technique gimmicky and derivative, but this book adds dimension and life to Doyle's detective, making him new and complex in a very satisfying and believable way. Using bees to unite the three main stories is masterful and truly beautiful. I enjoyed this book immensely and would love to see it done well as a movie.

Moving Character Study of Elderly Holmes

Mitch Cullins has produced a gorgeously-written character study of a 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes who is aware of having outlived his contextual moment in time (as well as both his biographer and brother), losing his mental as well as physical abilities, and coming to the end of his days with unanswered questions about the opportunities he missed during his life and the larger meaning of existence itself. It fits very neatly into and extrapolates from the last of Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Holmes stories, in which readers clearly can see Holmes's loneliness, existential angst, and somewhat repressed humanity asserting itself.

Cullins weaves several stories together, including the present-day (that is, 1947) mentorship relationship between Holmes and his housekeeper's son, Holmes's recent post-war journey to a devastated postwar Japan (itself in search of meaning in a new era), and Holmes's revisitation of a 1903 mystery that explains Holmes's later devotion to the study of bees. Repeated themes of suicide, pointless death, and potential natural keys to extended life (to what purpose?) raise difficult and universal questions to which Holmes -- and, for that matter, Cullins -- holds no definite answers.

I've seen some reviews suggest that this is about Holmes's regret over missing romance, which put me off a bit, but that's not what I took from this novel. It's about intellectual fascination and unlikely personal connections and the paradoxical fragility (enter pointless death) and strength (enter memory and study) of each. All three storylines -- that of Holmes's housekeeper's son, Holmes's Japanese hosts, and Holmes's 1903 subject of investigation -- reinforce and echo these themes in a beautifully crafted and achingly effective manner.

A few minor points of characterization failed to convince me, mostly related to Holmes's "slight trick of the mind," his rather ritualistic means of mourning, but these were surprisingly few and far between. On the whole, this is an absorbing and wrenching portrait, one with which all Holmesians/Sherlockians, I think, should wrestle and challenge their understanding of the Great Detective and what he represents. I'm very glad I listened to it.

Regrets and Revelations

This is a poignant tale of an aging Sherlock Holmes and has more to do with the mysteries of life and death than the more prosaic mysteries of the typical Sherlockian novel. We see an elderly Sherlock who, after a lifetime of shunning all but a few interpersonal connections, is forced to grapple with his own humanity and that of those around him. This definitely is not your classic SH mystery, but a sadly bittersweet tale imbued with its own sense of, perhaps more eternal, mystery.

Fantastic

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Absolutely captivating.

Any additional comments?

I rushed to listen to this one in preparation of seeing the movie with friends. I hung on every word. It drove me a little crazy, but in a good way, trying to link the mysteries with real Doyle characters. The movie had a different ending, but I forgave them as it was less heartbreaking their way.

Worth more than five stars!

I was completely captivated by this download. The narrator is superb...his voice and this story simply belong together. The tale itself gently engrossed me and is beautifully crafted. Of course this is not Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (get a grip, people!) but Cullin's Holmes is just who C-D's Holmes could have become 45 years into retirement. As a 93-year old he sits firmly in the centre of this book, no-one else, nothing else.

Strange tale

Oddly enough, this is one time I will say that the movie worked better, though I have my quibbles with that as well. The book is essentially three tales, but they never overlap enough thematically to make a satisfying conclusion. The audio is beautifully performed, however, and kept me listening. A lesser performance would have had me abandoning this book before the end.

Three Overlapping Stories of Loss

A poignant tail of a life lived, from the vantage point of old age. Sherlock Holmes tells his own story without the help of Dr. Watson, while the rest of the story unfolds from the omnipotent viewpoint.

This is not a mystery as one might anticipate, but rather a reflection on loss and the meanderings of life.

The story is well written, perhaps too well written as touch of sadness lingers with me after the conclusion.

The performance is excellent, and the production quality is perfect.

Sherlock hits the skids.

A beautiful study of the effects of ageing on a powerful mind - quite brilliant from that point of view. However the story is very dull. Drumming fingers on the table dull.

Imaginative, Beautiful!

An imaginative and interesting take on the young detective Holmes that we know and love... Place in him in the old, decrepit years facing the struggles most elderly people do and you get a different Holmes. A Holmes unlike the immortal, cocky one we are used to. A new take on Sherlock Holmes. Good read and I highly recommend.
Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

No mystery and a labourious listen.

Would you try another book from Mitch Cullin and/or Simon Jones?

Mitch Cullin, No. Simon Jones, Yes.

What was most disappointing about Mitch Cullin’s story?

There was no intrigue, mystery or even interesting characters including Holmes himself.

Which character – as performed by Simon Jones – was your favorite?

The woman who played the Armonica.

Did A Slight Trick of the Mind inspire you to do anything?

Fall asleep several times.

Any additional comments?

The stories were simply narratives with little satisfaction at the end of their telling. It's a caricature of what the 1970's Holmes would have become.

Remove Holmes and retitle it, "Reflections of a dying old man" and it may be a better book, but the inclusion of Holmes leaves a reader/listener expecting something memorable and interesting.

The Author, Mitch Cullin has managed to strip nearly every enjoyable aspect of Holmes and left us with a rambling old imposter or character impersonator who thinks he was once Holmes.