Friday, November 26, 2010

A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin

A few days ago while sitting in my office when I spied this book out of the corner of my eye on the shelf.  I'm very funny about the books on my shelf.  I know them all personally and intimately even though I haven't read them.  This book was strangely unfamiliar.  I came back to it the next day when I was searching for a new book to read.

I slipped it off the shelf and leafed through the pages. I knew I hadn't bought it but I had no idea where it had come from.  So I figured I might as well read it and maybe that might jog my memory.

A Slight Trick of the Mind is a charming tale of an aging Sherlock Holmes.  Always having been sharp of mind, he finds himself struggling with answers to mysteries that in younger days would have come easily.  Woven quite nicely through the novel are Holmes' relationship with the housekeeper's son, Roger, his love of beekeeping and a trip to Japan only a few years after World War II.  In between are the pages of his manuscript of a case from years ago that continues to haunt him.

Sherlock Holmes had to dig deep within his aging mind and body to find the answers he was looking for but eventually the pieces of the puzzle came together.  A Slight Trick of the Mind is beautifully written and a pleasure to read.  I rate it 4 out of 5 even though Holmes was unable to solve my own mystery of how this book had landed in my collection.  I may never know.      

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