Under Construction

After Douglas Adams tragic death in May 2001, many

In the Editor's note, the man whose job it was to put together the Salmon of Doubt explained how he chose which chapters to use:

Conceived as a third Dirk Gently novel, Douglas's novel-in-progress began life as A Spoon Too Short, and was described as sunch in his files until August 1993. From this point forward, folders refer to the novel as The Salmon of Doubt, and fall into three categories. From oldest to most recent, they are: "The Old Salmon," "The Salmon of Doubt" and "LA/Rhino/Ranting Manor," Reading through these various versions,

Chapter 1

This is chapter was taken from the first draft and none of the events mentioned in it are referred to again, so this therefore may have been part of a plotline Douglas planned to remove from the book. Dirk Gently does not appear, instead the main protagonist is a man named Dave who seems to have built his own society from scratch in what appears to be the far future. The society almost seems to be a shrine to blandness, with Travel Agents worshipped, landscape features named after members of -and songs by- the '70s group The Carpenters. At the end of the chapter it is explained that it is 1.2 million years after the human race has gone extinct, a fact which may tie up with the reports of an imminent meteor collision in the later chapters.

Chapter 2

The next six chapters are taken from the second draft; it's the present, and a rich-looking and highly desirable woman arrives for an appointment with Dirk Gently in his new office, an appointment Dirk appears ot have forgotten about. She has partly lost her cat¹. As it is the sort of case Dirk would normally be fascinated by, it is odd that he chooses to turn it down. The woman leaves with her cat², although not before Dirk asks her to dinner. (she does not reply)

Chapter 3

Dirk discusses the oddness of his refusal to work the case with his friend Kate Schechter, another highly desirable woman who he was once rude to, but somehow managed to become friends with. After he tells her that he also tried to telephone himself, and heard himself reply, she recommends he takes a rest

Chapter 4

The explanation that explains most of these strange occurrences is that there are two Dirks, and that the one we don't see is the same man who is employing the Dirk we do see. The reason £500 is taken from Dirk's account while he still has his cards could well be that another Dirk had his own copy of the cards, and withdrew the money from them. This money was most likely used to pay the man Dirk follows, who it is quickly established is an actor and therefore quite likely to be employable for this.