t2542.jpgIt's official: Thomas Pynchon is releasing a hard-boiled detective novel next August, titled Inherent Vice. Galleycat posted a paragraph-long excerpt from the Penguin catalog:

She came along the alley and up the back steps the way she always used to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had. Back then it was always sandals, bottom half of a flower-print bikini, faded Country Joe and the Fish T-shirt. Tonight she was all in flatland gear, hair a lot shorter than he remembered, looking just like she swore she'd never look.
"That you, Shasta? The packaging fooled me there for a minute."
"Need your help, Doc."

It seems like he's gonna play this one pretty straight.