In A Slight Trick of the Mind,
Mitch Cullin
imagines the life of an aged Sherlock
Holmes. He has lived through two world wars and
seen most of his closest friends
and family die. He is a man with no place in the world, and even the little
place he has separated out for himself cannot hold back time.
This is not a crime
story, but it deals with mysteries. These are not mysteries in the secret
society sense of things revealed only to the cognoscenti. They are mysteries in
the Christian
sense of things that are beyond the understanding of man. The Holmes of this
book is struggling with memory, death, war, abandonment, relationships, and
grief. Even with diminished capacity, Holmes can tell how a boy died. What
Holmes can’t grasp is how this boy he had come to love should die for no
apparent reason while he has lived long after his place in the world faded
away.
I have always thought that part of the appeal of Holmes was his
humanity. Though he has a cool demeanor and focuses on reason, these things
don’t motivate him. Beneath the surface is a passion for justice and a
compassion for his fellow man. Cullin captures both of these sides of a very
old Holmes who is struggling with mysteries that stump us all.
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