The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a 1988 humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams. It is the second book by Adams featuring private detective Dirk Gently, the first being [Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2163714W). It was followed by the [Salmon of Doubt](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2163715W), an incomplete Dirk Gently novel included in a posthumous collection of the same name. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul has been adapted for radio, and several plot lines appear in the 2010 BBC TV series.
Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952. He was creator of all the various manifestations of *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.
Douglas died unexpectedly in May 2001 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 49.