The Salmon of Doubt

The Salmon of Doubt is a collection of previously-unpublished material by Douglas Adams, published after the author's death in 2001. It consists largely of essays, most of which have a technological edge, but its major selling point is the inclusion of the novel on which Adams was working when he died (and from which the collection gets its title).

The actual manuscript of the proposed novel ends fairly early on in the narrative, and is composed of the best of several drafts (as were many of Adams' books). The existing plot involves Dirk Gently, the detective protagonist of two earlier Adams novels, refusing to help find half a missing cat (some premonition here...?), receiving large amounts of money from an unknown client, and flying to the United States, although exactly where Adams was undecided. As promised in the beginning, we don't go through a rhinoceros. Suggestions are made that Dirk Gently travels in time, because he answers a telephone call when he rings home.