The Cunning Man, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994, is the last novel written by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The Cunning Man is the memoir of the life of a doctor, Dr. Jonathan Hullah, living in Toronto. Hullah is a holistic physician — a cunning diagnostician who can often get to the root of problems that have baffled others. A young journalist's query about the circumstances surrounding an Anglican priest's death at the high altar on Good Friday leads Hullah to reflect on his own life and career. As is typical in Davies' work, the novel's themes are wide-ranging:... miraculous cures, halitosis, cannibalism, medical solutions to literary mysteries, and more. Dunstan Ramsay, the narrator of Fifth Business and a major character in Davies' Deptford Trilogy, makes a brief appearance here. A fictionalised version of Toronto's Church of St. Mary Magdalene features prominently. Unlike most of Davies' previous novels, The Cunning Man was not part of a trilogy. There is some supposition, however, that had Davies lived long enough this novel and his previous novel, Murther and Walking Spirits , might have constituted another trilogy.
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