Bookish
An unconventional book shop owner, Gabriel Book, helps police solve crimes in 1946 London. It also follows the story of Gabriel’s marriage to Trottie; they are in a lavender marriage. Book’s interest in Jack, a recently released petty criminal, whom he hires to work in the bookshop.
TV Series 2025
1 Seasons – 6 Episodes
After hearing good things about Bookish on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, I decided to give it a go. I’m now three episodes in and honestly can’t believe how underwhelming it is. I’m genuinely confused as to how it’s received such positive feedback and already been commissioned for a second series. The writing feels very cliché and predictable. The mysteries are straightforward and lack any real intrigue (I used to enjoy Jonathan Creek for its properly puzzling solutions). At times, the dialogue is painfully obvious, and even halfway through the series I can already guess some of the lines before they’re said.
Book himself just isn’t an interesting lead. It feels like the most basic version of the eccentric English detective trope. He’s essentially Sherlock Holmes with a slightly different aesthetic, but no real depth beyond that. The one element that did stand out was the Lavender marriage storyline, mostly thanks to Pollie Walker’s performance as Trottie. It’s probably the only aspect I find remotely engaging, but even that is constantly disrupted by updates from mysteries that feel low-stakes and easy to solve.
