History Literature / TheSalmonOfDoubt

''The Salmon of Doubt'' is an unfinished manuscript by Creator/DouglasAdams, left in that state after the author sadly [[DiedDuringProduction hitched a lift to the Great Beyond.]] Its exact nature is, and forever will remain, unclear: it started life as a third ''Dirk Gently'' book, but the author later implied that it wasn't working out that way, and that he might change it into a sixth ''[[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's Guide]]'' (partly to end the series on a happier note after the [[DarkerAndEdgier bitter]] [[Literature/MostlyHarmless fifth book]]). However, it contains strange passages that don't fit neatly into either series, such as an incongruous, uncharacteristic account of a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles carjacking and an account of a man named Dave, hang-gliding over a post-apocalyptic woodland.

The story, such as it is, is cryptic and surreal even by Adamsian standards. It begins with Dirk Gently, the con artist / private detective last seen in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'', being asked to investigate the disappearance of ''the back half'' of a woman's cat (the cat, strangely, is just fine, and seems not to have noticed that he's [[OnlyMostlyDead only mostly there]]). Shortly thereafter, Dirk begins to receive a series of enormous payments from an unseen client, although he's done nothing to earn it. Convinced that he has to do ''something'' to justify this, he follows a ginger-haired actor ([[WildMassGuessing fan speculation]] identifies him as [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Ford Prefect]]) onto a flight bound for UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. Dirk then meets a rhinoceros named Desmond on the back of a truck. The story is largely fragments, and consists of various chapters from various drafts that Adams wrote at different times and because of this, there's no specific point where the text breaks off mid-thought, the story just sort of [[NoEnding stops]] at the end of a chapter.

* SoundtrackDissonance: After a woman has her car stolen, the narrator says he wishes the radio of a passing convertible was playing "[[Music/BobDylan How does it feeeeel]]" but it was actually playing "Sunday Girl" by ''Music/{{Blondie}}'' which wasn't even remotely appropriate.

* SoundtrackDissonance: After a woman has her car stolen, the narrator says he wishes the radio of a passing convertible was playing "How does it feeeeel" but it was actually playing "Sunday Girl" by ''Music/{{Blondie}}'' which wasn't even remotely appropriate.

''The Salmon of Doubt'' is an unfinished manuscript by Creator/DouglasAdams, left in that state after the author sadly [[AuthorExistenceFailure hitched a lift to the Great Beyond.]] Its exact nature is, and forever will remain, unclear: it started life as a third ''Dirk Gently'' book, but the author later implied that it wasn't working out that way, and that he might change it into a sixth ''[[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's Guide]]'' (partly to end the series on a happier note after the [[DarkerAndEdgier bitter]] [[Literature/MostlyHarmless fifth book]]). However, it contains strange passages that don't fit neatly into either series, such as an incongruous, uncharacteristic account of a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles carjacking and an account of a man named Dave, hang-gliding over a post-apocalyptic woodland.