What is a “Holistic Detective Agency,” you ask? I’ll let Dirk himself explain.

The term ‘holistic’ refers to my conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I do not concern myself with such petty things as fingerprint powder, telltale pieces of pocket fluff and inane footprints. I see the solution to each problem as being detectable in the pattern and web of the whole. The connections between causes and effects are often much more subtle and complex than we with our rough and ready understandings of the physical world might naturally suppose. (115)

I picked up Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, from a second-hand book store back in the 1990s. I had just finished Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide and was hooked on his weird brand of humour. Dirk’s exploits did the trick!

This book is bizzare, centred on the theme of impossibilities. In it you’ll meet an electric monk that rides a horse and is programmed to believe incompatible things, a recently deceased millionaire, a very, very, old alien that waxes and wanes with the moon, and a professor with a penchant for impossible magic tricks.

After reading that last sentence, you’ll know whether or not this book’s for you!

Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Toronto: Stoddart, 1987.