I've never read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I did enjoy the television series, so I was pleased to see that our library had the BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the book. It's quite different from the show, but funny as was Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Dirk Gently (not his real name) does have certain unusual abilities, but his detective practice mostly involves finding old ladies' lost cats. His secretary, Janice Pearce, wants to be paid, as does Gently himself. Richard Macduff, a former classmate of Dirk's at Cambridge, is in a lot of trouble because he is suspected of having murdered his employer, Gordon Way. Richard's girlfriend his Gordon's sister, Susan Way. Susan has a socially awkward acquaintance (I would hardly call him a friend) named Michael Wenton Weakes. Michael will prove quite useful to one of the book's ghosts.

Professor Reg Chronotis is more than he seems. Detective Sergeant Gilks is not the brightest copper on the force, but Macduff fears him. The Electric Monk is an android with a built-in-need to believe. His best scene is when DS Gilks is interrogating him.

I don't know if fans of the book will enjoy this, but this fan of the show did. I would recommend it to fans of science fiction humor and mysteries.

Note: A famous piece of classical music will have the composer misnamed early in the drama. Why will become clear at the end. ( )

What can I say? It's Douglas Adams. Just as creative, quirky, and ludicrous as you ought to expect. Not quite as good as Hitchhiker's Guide, but that's setting a very high bar indeed. The plot reminds me of a Doctor Who episode Adams wrote, "City of Death." Dirk Gently is very like the Doctor. ( )

On the whole, this is three stars for the dramatization and an extra star for the awesomeness of the cast. I picked this up mainly because Billy Boyd is the voice of Richard MacDuff, but I also enjoyed the performances of Harry Enfield as Dirk Gently and Olivia Colman as his secretary, Janice Pears. And the Electric Monk surprised me into hooting with laughter on multiple occasions. I liked the theme tune and the use of the music, but some of the music was a bit too loud in relation to the dialogue, and I am not sure how well someone who doesn't already know the broad outlines of the story would be able to follow the narrative thread. Granted, the book itself is a bit random (or rather, all events are holistically interconnected in some obscure way), so perhaps my feeling muddled on occasion can be attributed to my usual difficulties with following audio dramas in general. It certainly made for an entertaining six hours, and once I got started I went through it in record time, so I would still recommend it if you like sci-fi on the radio. ( )

I haven't read the Dirk Gently books, but husbeast and I have watched the TV show, which I think I enjoyed more than this dramatization. It could just be that I was exposed to that characterization of Dirk first, and I think I like it a bit better. This was fun and funny, and the performances were great (Jim Carter does one of the parts, and my poor little brain was all "Carson?" for a second every time he came on.) Billy Boyd is particularly good as Macduff. ( )

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (1991)