''A Slight Trick of the Mind'' is the seventh book by American author

Mitch Cullin Mitch Cullin (born March 23, 1968) is an American writer. He is the author of seven novels, and one short story collection. He currently resides in Arcadia, California and Tokyo, Japan with his partner and frequent collaborator Peter I. Chang. Hi ...

Plot

In 1947, the 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes lives in retirement at a small farmhouse in the English countryside, attended by his housekeeper Mrs. Munro. He is unable to walk without a pair of canes, and he pursues various natural remedies to combat his failing memory. Holmes spends much of his time on beekeeping, having set up an

apiary An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to a hobbyist's hives ...

on the property, and he begins to teach Mrs. Munro's son Roger about the practice. The story shifts between three narratives: * Holmes' attempt to recall the true details of the last case he investigated before deciding to retire 35 years earlier. * His recent visit to Japan to meet with Tamiki Umezaki, a man who believed that Holmes could solve the mystery of why his father traveled to England and never returned. * The time he spends with Roger, and the rift that forms between Holmes and Mrs. Munro after the boy's sudden death in an attack by a swarm of wasps.

Releases

It was first published in April 2005 as a hardcover edition from Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday, and during the same month an unabridged

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

version read by Simon Jones was released on both compact disc and

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

Highbridge Audio Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...

. A trade paperback edition was published in May 2006 by

Anchor Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Awards

The

edition by Mitch Cullin won the

Audio Publishers Association The Audio Publishers Association (APA) is the first and only not-for-profit trade organization of the audiobook industry in the United States. Its mission is to "advocate the common, collective business interests of audio publishers." Membership is ...

's 2006

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

for Unabridged Fiction.

Film adaptation

On 5 September 2013, it was announced that the book would be adapted into a film with Ian McKellen as Holmes. Bill Condon would direct, and

Jeffrey Hatcher Jeffrey Hatcher is an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the stage play ''Compleat Female Stage Beauty'', which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just ''Stage Beauty'' (2004). He also co-wrote the stage adaptation o ...

would adapt the screenplay. The film was released on 19 June 2015 under the title ''

Mr. Holmes ''Mr. Holmes'' is a 2015 British-American mystery film directed by Bill Condon, based on Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel ''A Slight Trick of the Mind'', and featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. The film stars Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes, Laur ...

''.

Copyright Dispute

The Conan Doyle Estate filed legal action against Mitch Cullin and the companies producing the film on May 21, 2015, alleging unauthorized copying of copyrighted stories by Arthur Conan Doyle that cover the later life of Sherlock Holmes. All parties reached an agreement out of court before the release of the film in the United States, and later editions of the novel now include a note thanking the estate for permission to use copyrighted material.

References

2005 American novels American novels adapted into films Nan A. Talese books Native American novels Novels by Mitch Cullin Novels set in England Sherlock Holmes pastiches {{2000s-novel-stub