Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams (Heinemann, 1987)
Rushed ending aside, this is a consummate piece of genre creation. Adams crafts a supernatural SF detective story with gorgeous (often subtle) pieces of interconnectedness, Doctor Who rehash and zany bits of faux-throwaway, all brought together by the late-appearing protagonist. Improbably brilliant.
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
by Douglas Adams (William Heinemann, 1988); audiobook read by Douglas Adams (Phoenix, 2015)
The story, when looked back upon at book’s end, turns out to have been the flimsiest of nonsense. Dirk actually does very little. But this only serves to emphasise the deft, droll, audacious touch of Adams’ whimsy, and the lure of interconnectedness.
Snatch
dir. Guy Ritchie (2000)
This spiritual sequel to black crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels punches hard and fast through the convolutions of London’s underworld, scoring points from its protagonists’ interconnectedness and bouts of ineptness. Brad Pitt stands out as Irish ‘pikey’ Mickey O’Neil.