Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Series) by Douglas Adams - 9/10

Follow the exploits of Dirk, an unconventional private detective who solves complex mysteries by seeing patterns in apparently unconnected facts and occurrences (when not finding lost cats for elderly clients).

It's hard to describe these books without giving too much away, and Dirk is a difficult character to define (he comes across quite differently in the BBC Radio adaptations and the TV series in case you have any experience with either). I enjoy this series because Adams - playing off of the narrative fact that most stories end up weaving all characters and exposition into a single cohesive whole - created a logic within the world to explain the interconnectedness of all things. These books are filled with his characteristic wit and are unafraid to introduce elements of the fantastical into the ordinary.

*Again, I think that the debut novel is more successful than the sequel (which leans heavily on pre-established mythology and characters rather than working with something more creative), but they are still both worth a read.