History Literature / DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency

* ETGaveUsWifi: [[spoiler:The works of Johann Sebastian Bach are the sounds made by the computers on an alien flying saucer. Oh, and the long-lost second half of Kubla Khan was written while Samuel Taylor Coleridge was possessed by the ghost of an alien from said flying saucer, and was designed to subtly convince the reader to give themselves up to possession by said ghost.]]

** Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge gets possessed by an alien ghost, who leaves secret messages in his poetry.
** Dirk is revealed to be the infamous "Person from Porlock" who disrupted "Kubla Khan" because if completed the poem would've caused the end of the world.

* LiteraryWorkOfMagic: Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's poems contain secret messages conveyed to him while he was under the influence of [[spoiler:an alien ghost, as part of plan to wipe out the human race]].

** Dirk Maggs wrote and directed a radio series with Harry Enfield voicing Dirk for [=BBC4=] with Above The Title Peoductions in 2007.

* PortalDoor: Professor Chronitis's time-traveling study is active, the bathroom door will lead to a door in a convenient wall, or cliff face.

* TriggerPhrase: "My old maiden aunt who lived in Winnipeg." [[spoiler:Hearing this phrase at one point in the story causes Richard to remove all his clothing and dive into a canal - because Dirk has hypnotised him to do so, as it turns out.]]

* BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts: The driver of a car is horrified when he sees the ghost of his boss appear in front the car. Gordon, on the other hand, is horrified to see another ghost ''in the car's passenger seat''.

** On a smaller scale, Adams regarded [[Music/JohannSebastianBach Bach]]'s music as the best ever composed. [[spoiler:In the novel, Bach's music is *literally* inhumanly beautiful alien music that was passed to him by Chronotis -- whom admits to cheating, since "it's more than one man could actually do in a lifetime"]].

* BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts: The driver of a car is horrified when he sees the ghost of his boss appear in front the car. The ghost, on the other hand, is horrified to see another ghost ''in the car's passenger seat''.

* DropShip: The ship that exploded at the beginning was one. Larger than most examples as it held its mothership's entire crew of nine dozen.

* PeekabooCorpse: A ghost discovers ''his own'' corpse in a cupboard. And faints.

The novel started as a RecycledScript of Creator/DouglasAdams' ''Series/DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada "Shada"]], which got stuck in DevelopmentHell -- several characters and locations are recycled from the episode wholesale. It also borrows heavily from Adams' ''Doctor Who'' story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]''.

** The alien ghost is basically Scaroth from the ''Doctor Who'' episode, ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]''. Scaroth's spaceship exploded, causing life to develop on Earth. So he waited until a human built him a time machine so he could go back and save his ship.

* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Dirk invented the word "psychoassic" and when asked, he would deny that it meant anything at all.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Chronotis owns a time-traveling spaceship and was appointed to his post by King George [=III=]. Justified in that he originated in an unmade ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode where he was a Time Lord.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Chronotis owns a time machine and was appointed to his post by King George [=III=]. Justified in that he originated in an unmade ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode where he was a Time Lord.

* AudioAdaptation;

* AuthorAppeal: Adams was fond computers (he was an early adopter in TheEighties) and of the idea of finding mathematical patterns in the natural world. Both concepts feature prominently in the novel.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Chronotis owns a spaceship and is hinted to have had his job since Richard [=III=] was king. Justified in that he originated in an unmade ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode where he was a Time Lord.

** There was a fan made radio shiw for the Douglas Adams Continuum website in 2005.