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)

Fabulous!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book though if you are looking for a Sherlock Holmes mystery this is not. This book is another type of mystery looking into the personal thoughts and feelings of a legendary literary character. The narrator was perfect and drew me into the book immediately. This once fearless and magnificent man is now near the end of his life but as the story unfolds you realize that what seemed to most of us to be an exciting and fulfilling life, actually had a lot of emptiness. It's an exploration of the humanity of the greatest and most memorable detective.

many words, little substance

Mitch writes beautifully. The problem is that he seems to fall in love with his words while neglecting the story. The end result is a very genteel tale with piles and piles of lovely words that become forgettable shortly after you hit the STOP button on your DVD player. If you like being talked AT while sinking into an overstuffed chair at the Savoy during high tea, then this is for you. If you're looking for something to stimulate, look elsewhere.

A nice listen

This is the first time I've tried to write a review, so bear with me. I liked Slight Trick of the Mind. It was a nice listen. Well read and written. I will listen to it again sometime. There is a mystery to solve and some insight into Sherlock's life as an older man.

Interesting Premise, Poor Delivery

What disappointed you about A Slight Trick of the Mind?

The premise of a Holmes getting senile is interesting. There are three stories and all of them are incomplete. That being so, I wonder why they were told in the first place. There are plenty of unanswered questions. Maybe this is to replicate Holmes' memory loss but, if so, why write this book. Mysteries need a conclusion and there isn't one here.

What could Mitch Cullin have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Bring something to conclusion - even Holmes' death in a relevant situation.

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

Holmes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Some insight into memory loss, but not in this context.

Any additional comments?

When discussing all of his associates' deaths, it gets very depressing. Again, maybe realistic, but that's not what I read Sherlock Holmes for.

Not the book you think it is

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This is a perfectly crommulent book, it's just not the book you probably think it is. If you are expecting a battle of wits between an aging Holmes and an evil archvillian, forget it. Although Holmes does solve a few minor mysteries, this book is about an imperfect though great aging man dealing with loss and regret.

A Nice Way to Remember Sherlock Holmes

Where does A Slight Trick of the Mind rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Slight Trick of the Mind?

Too many to mention

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I have been reading Sherlock Homes stories since I was a teenager - over 50 years ago. I still enjoy re-reading these tales. It was a nice change to read about Sherlock in his old age, still the spritely individual I have enjoyed forever.

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.