The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
The front cover of the US first hardcover edition of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
Author Douglas Adams
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Comedy novel, Science Fiction
Publisher William Heinemann
Released 10 October 1988
Media Type Print (Hardcover & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD)
Pages 256 pages (hardcover), 320 pages (paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-434-00921-0 (hardcover edition) & ISBN 0-671-74251-5 (US paperback edition)
Preceded by Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Followed by The Salmon of Doubt

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a 1988 science fiction detective novel by Douglas Adams. It is the second book by Adams featuring private detective Dirk Gently, the first being Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. The novel's title is a phrase which appeared in Adams's earlier novel Life, The Universe and Everything, but the novels are not otherwise related.

It features a surreal plot progression, with the characters accepting all sorts of bizarre events as commonplace or at least reasonable. It frequently features humour built around strange situations and repeated themes, one connection it has, rather unsurprisingly, with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in its many incarnations.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Dirk Gently, an alleged "holistic detective", has happened upon what he thinks is a rather comfortable situation. A ridiculously wealthy man in the record industry has retained him, spinning a ludicrous story about being stalked by an seven-foot-tall, green-eyed, scythe-wielding monster. Dirk pretends to understand the man's ravings involving potatoes and a contract coming due; in reality, however, Dirk is musing about what he might do if he actually receives payment for his "services". Get rid of his refrigerator, for one; the seemingly innocuous appliance has become the centerpiece of a dangerous showdown between himself and his cleaning woman. The apparent seriousness of his client's claims becomes clear when Dirk arrives several hours late for an appointment to find a swarm of police around his client's estate. The aforementioned client is found in a room locked from within, his head neatly removed and rotating on a turntable.

Nearly incapacitated by great thudding pangs of guilt, Dirk resolves to belatedly begin taking his now-late client's wild claims seriously. During his investigation, Gently encounters exploding airport check-in counters, the gods of Norse mythology, insulting horoscopes, a sinister nursing home, a rhinophagic eagle, an I Ching calculator, an omnipotent being who gives his powers to a lawyer in exchange for clean linen, and an attractive American woman who enjoys getting angry when she can't get pizza delivered in London.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Release details

Preceded by:
 Series: Followed by:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Dirk Gently series The Salmon of Doubt
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