Overview

• The six-part series follows Gabriel Book, a postwar antiquarian bookseller whose Churchill letter secures him unique access to murder scenes.
• Three two-part poisoning cases form the core mysteries, drawing on Gatiss’s love of mid-20th-century whodunits infused with modern commentary.
• Gabriel’s lavender marriage to Trottie, played by Polly Walker, and his partnership with Jack Blunt (Connor Finch) explore LGBTQ+ invisibility and redemption.
• In promotional interviews Gatiss has emphasized the show’s homage to classic detective films and its critique of legal hardships faced by queer people in 1946.
• Critics have praised Bookish for balancing black comedy, gothic suspense, and period atmosphere while resisting purely “cosy crime” conventions.