History Main / DirkGently

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

* BalefulPolymorph: Thor does this by accident when he's angry, thus setting off the events of ''Long Dark Teatime of the Soul''. His many unfortunate victims include, a kitten, an airline ticket clerk, and [[spoiler:a fighter jet]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Without a doubt, [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the best time-traveling romantic detective ghost story ever written.]]]]

* PhonyPsychic: Inverted, as described above under LaserGuidedKarma; Dirk has twice posed as a psychic, been uncannily right both times, and got arrested for it the first time. He now spends a lot of time insisting to people who were there that he's ''not'' psychic. Usually they don't believe him and his reputation from the ''first'' incident often precedes him.
** In ''Teatime'', he literally starts throwing out the usual psychic nonsense (while in drag), and turns out to be exactly right.

* DidNotDoTheResearch / YouFailGeographyForever: The island Dirk is showing having escaped to in the conclusion is actually Hispaniola. Barbados is about a thousand miles further East in the Lesser Antilles.

* DidNotDoTheResearch / YouFailGeographyForever: The island Dirk is showning having escaped to in the conclusion is actually Hispaniola. Barbados is about a thousand miles further East in the Lesser Antilles.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: ''Literally''. Well, it was Coleridge and Bach... okay, just read the book.

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

* ShoutOut: The BBC radio adaptions of the novels re-use several sound effects from ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'', and include a reference to the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation.

* TheVerse: Chronotis' appearance in the webcast version of ''Shada'' apparently places ''DirkGently'' in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse.
** No, it's a [[RecycledScript recycled script]], so they're more-or-less mutually exclusive.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Deliberately invoked by Dirk at university. By carefully denying the most extraordinary things, he convinces his fellow students that he's a psychic, mystic, telepathic, clairvoyant, psychsosassic, vampire bat.

* {{Expy}}: Because of the first book's RecycledScript from "Shada", an abandoned ''DoctorWho'' episode, [[spoiler:Reg is essentially a retired Time Lord with an unusual TARDIS.]]

* TheVerse: Chronotis' appearance in the webcast version of ''Shada'' apparently places ''DirkGently'' in the ''DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse.

Both books were adapted for [[TheBBC BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. The first book was adapted (as ''Dirk Gently'') for BBC television in 2010, starring Stephen Mangan.

* [[spoiler: DeusExMachina: The ending of the second book, while appropriate, neatly finishes all the plot threads in about five pages.]]

* NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: Kate, shortly before awakening from a coma in a hospital, has a dream in which her mind is represented by an infinite collection of cabin trunks, of which ten percent contain past memories, and the remaining ninety percent contain [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]].

* PhonyPsychic: Subverted, as described above under LaserGuidedKarma; Dirk has twice posed as a psychic, been uncannily right both times, and got arrested for it the first time. He now spends a lot of time insisting to people who were there that he's ''not'' psychic. Usually they don't believe him and his reputation from the ''first'' incident often precedes him.

* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: The eagle from ''Long Dark Tea-Time'', a bird of prey which [[TwinPeaks is not what it seems]].

** Also occurs in the weirdest way (it's Douglas Adams after all) in the sequel, ''The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul''. Needless to say, Norse Gods and a somewhat popular ''song'' are involved in the apparent suicide by beheading of some dude. Also, Dirk's non-working fridge? That has something to do with it as well: [[spoiler: By way of providing a DeusExMachina, ahaha!]]

** Also occurs in the weirdest way (it's Douglas Adams after all) in the sequel, ''The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul''. Needless to say, Norse Gods and a somewhat popular ''song'' are involved in the apparent suicide by beheading of some dude. Also, Dirk's non-working fridge? That has something to do with it as well.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: In ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'', Dirk explains that he will pick a random car to follow if he gets lost while he's driving. He finds that while often he never gets where he intended, he always ends up where he needed to be.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: In the novel The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, private dick Dirk Gently explains that he will pick a random car to follow if he gets lost while he's driving. He finds that while often he never gets where he intended, he always ends up where he needed to be.

* PerpetualPoverty: Dirk never seems to have much money -- a RunningGag in ''Holistic Detective Agency'' is his secretary quitting over not getting paid -- and most certainly never gets paid by ''his'' clients, making one wonder how he affords his office, flat, etc.
** With faith and hope. He always arranges the situation so that it would be more inconvenient to actually eject him or force him to pay than just let him be and hope that he'll pay some day.

* PerpetualPoverty: Dirk never seems to have much money -- a RunningGag in ''Holistic Detective Agency'' is his secretary quitting over not getting paid -- and most certainly never gets paid by ''his'' clients, making one wonder how he affords his office, flat, etc.

* PerpeptualPoverty: Dirk never seems to have much money -- a RunningGag in ''Holistic Detective Agency'' is his secretary quitting over not getting paid -- and most certainly never gets paid by ''his'' clients, making one wonder how he affords his office, flat, etc.