Bookish review – Mark Gatiss’s cosy crime drama is a tasty nugget of absolute delight

This beautifully paced, meticulously worked postwar detective series is hugely moreish. Its tales of bookseller-cum-semi-Sherlock are a TV joyYou may feel that your cosy crime dance card is full. You’ve done all the Richard Osmans, polished off Ludwig and that new Timothy Spall one, Death Valley, not as bleak as it sounds, and of course there’s Father Brown to fall back on when you are ill and Agatha Raisin when you need cheering up. You’re good.But … as with a delicious box of chocolates, which is to say any box of chocolates, there’s always room for one more, isn’t there? And here it is, your next flavoursome nugget of absolute delight – Bookish. This six-part detective drama was created by Mark Gatiss, written by Matthew Sweet and stars the former as Gabriel Book, a secondhand bookseller in postwar London. He carries a mysterious “letter from Churchill” as a result of his equally mysterious service in the war and this allows him to lend a hand with any passing police investigation that catches his eye. Think of him as a legitimised semi-Sherlock if you wish. Continue reading...

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