What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), and pizza have in common? Apparently not much; until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator, sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza - not to mention saving the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge). To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it then read it) - or contact Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. 'A THUMPING GOOD DETECTIVE-GHOST-HORROR-WHO DUNNIT-TIME TRAVEL-ROMANTIC-MUSICAL-COMEDY-EPIC' - The author

Douglas Adams was born in 1952 and created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy phenomenon: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptation, comic book and bath towel. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's book was published in 1979 and has been a huge success story. His series has sold over 15 million books in the UK, the US and Australia and was also a best seller in German, Swedish and many other languages. Douglas lived with his wife and daughter in California, where he died suddenly in 2001.