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''[[Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency (Literature)|Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency]]'' and ''[[The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul (Literature)|The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul]]'' are the two books written by [[Douglas Adams]] (of ''[[The Hitchhikers 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 [[Author Existence Failure|Adams' death]].
 
Dirk is a small-scale con artist whose latest scheme is working as a "Holistic Detective", who believes in the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things" and how that means that ''anything'' might prove useful in solving the ''whole'' cases of his clients -- which, the way he sees it, means that he can do anything he likes, even take a three-week tropical vacation, and still charge it to the client as an expense. Of course, by [[FinaglesFinagle's Law]], ''somehow'' every mundane little job he starts off working on in each novel is somehow actually connected to the main plot, and ''he's'' the one who has to solve everything.
 
Both books were adapted for [[The BBC|BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. An ongoing BBC TV adaptation, ''[[Dirk Gently (TV)|Dirk Gently]]'', stars [[Green Wing|Stephen Mangan]].
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* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Dirk's favorite way of getting places he shouldn't be.
* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: Dirk isn't wrong--''everything'' that happens in these books is ultimately important. The ''Dirk Gently'' books embody this trope really because they are all about the interconnectedness of everything. Chekov's Armoury isn't just a device Adams used, it's what he based the whole book on.
* [[Laser -Guided Karma]]: Whatever Dirk claims to believe in order to extract cash from gullible people invariably turns out to really be true, but always in such a way that he looks bad, sometimes in such a way that he suffers physical or emotional trauma, and never in such a way that he gets the money.
* [[Not So Phony Psychic]]: As described above under [[Laser -Guided Karma]]; Dirk has twice [[Phony Psychic|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.
* [[Occult Detective]]
* [[Perpetual Poverty]]: Dirk never seems to have much money -- a [[Running Gag]] in ''Holistic Detective Agency'' is his secretary quitting over not getting paid -- and most certainly never gets paid by ''his'' clients. He manages to stay in his office, flat, etc, through arranging 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.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: In response to the [[Laser -Guided Karma]] mentioned above, Dirk has also, on at least one occasion, stood outside, fist clenched at the sky, and screamed for life to stop screwing with him.
* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]
 
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[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:Dirk Gently]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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