Mitch Cullen: A Slight Trick Of The Mind

[StillILearn]

I just finished reading A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullen, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This one may possibly even deserve a reread. In it the great detective is in his ninety-eighth year, and is still managing to get around with the help of his trusty canes. His memory is playing tricks on him, but at least he knows it is. There is personal reference to love in this book, and to loss. The reader will learn a bit more about honey bees (and the difference between bees and wasps), and about Japan (and the atomic bomb), and maybe a little bit about hope and survival.

This portion of a review taken from amazon will give you just a hint of what to expect from this book:

Cullin has carefully woven three stories together and managed it so neatly that no threads show--worthy of Holmes himself. The first is the story of Holmes's recent return from a trip to Japan, ostensibly in search of prickly ash, a bush that he believes contributes to healthy longevity, as does his beloved and trusted royal jelly. While there, he is met by his correspondent, Mr. Umezaki, who isn't as interested in prickly ash as in gleaning information from Holmes about his long-gone father. Supposedly, they met many years before, in London, and Holmes advised him [Umezaki's father] not to return home. Of course, Holmes has no recollection of the meeting but finesses it nicely.

It is 1947 when they visit Hiroshima, post-atomic bomb, and Holmes marvels at what he sees. He compares it, most poignantly, to the loss of the queen in a hive, "when no resources were available to raise a new one. Yet how could he explain the deeper illness of unexpressed desolation, that imprecise pall harbored en masse by ordinary Japanese?" That is what he tells Roger, the 14-year-old son of his housekeeper. Roger is the second thread of the novel. Holmes is introducing him to beekeeping and Roger proves an apt student. His hero-worship of Holmes and his need for a father form an integral part of Cullin's intention of "humanizing" the great Sherlock Holmes.

There is also 'the mysterious woman' -- or two.

I'm still looking forward to reading Julian Barnes's book about Arthur and George.

Holmes lives on. NPR link to A Slight Trick of the Mind