A Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Mystery: Meet Bookish
If you’ve streamed Sherlock into the ground, Mark Gatiss’s new series Bookish may be the Sherlock style detective show you’ve been waiting for. The six-part drama, which has already earned a rare 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, follows antiquarian bookseller Gabriel Book as he becomes an unlikely sleuth in the shadow of World War II. Season 1, which aired on PBS earlier this year, weaves three distinct cases across six episodes, making Bookish a compact yet layered Bookish detective drama. Each story pivots on classic whodunit pleasures—jealousy, ageism, wealth inequality, politics, revenge—while using the moody, postwar London backdrop to deepen the stakes. With a second season ordered even before the first had fully rolled out, Bookish is positioning itself as one of the best new crime series for viewers craving a clever, character-led mystery fix.
Why Sherlock Fans Should Care About Mark Gatiss’s New Series
Mark Gatiss’s fingerprints are all over modern genre television, from co-creating Sherlock to writing for Doctor Who and Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Bookish is his chance to build an original sleuth from the ground up, and his Sherlock pedigree is a key part of the appeal. Like the Baker Street series, this perfect Rotten Tomatoes mystery is driven by sharp character work and a playful reverence for classic detective fiction. Gatiss not only writes but also stars as Gabriel Book, channelling an eccentric intelligence reminiscent of Holmes while grounding the character in a very different life experience. Bookish also promises a mini Sherlock reunion: Rupert Graves, beloved as Inspector Lestrade, is set to appear in season 2. For fans of Gatiss’s earlier work, this isn’t just a nostalgic curiosity—it’s a natural next step in his lifelong love affair with the murder mystery genre.
What Critics Are Praising: Characters, Cases, and Style
Early praise for Bookish has focused on how deftly it balances cosy mystery pleasures with complex character drama. Gabriel Book is more than a quirky sleuth; as a gay man in the 1940s, his collaboration with the police is tinged with real risk, since his very identity is criminalized. A flashback to his arrest—and his wife Trottie stepping in to save him—adds emotional weight rarely seen in a light-footed crime procedural. Critics have highlighted how each story folds social themes into the mystery plotting without turning Bookish into a lecture. The show’s stylish period setting, from book-lined shops to film sets and fancy hotels, gives it the feel of a literary puzzle box, a true Bookish detective drama. Add a supporting ensemble that includes ex-con-turned-sidekick Jack, and you have a character web that promises long-term storytelling potential.
A New Kind of Literary Sleuth: How Bookish Compares to Sherlock
On paper, a brilliant outsider helping the police solve murders sounds like Sherlock by another name, but Bookish quickly proves it’s not a simple copy. Where Sherlock is frenetic, contemporary, and tech-driven, Bookish is contemplative and steeped in postwar malaise, more in love with dusty volumes than smartphone deductions. Gabriel Book’s tools are a letter from Winston Churchill, encyclopedic literary knowledge, and a network of eager allies, not a superhuman knack for instant crime-scene reconstruction. Structurally, the series favors three self-contained stories across six episodes, giving cases room to breathe and characters space to unravel. The tone leans closer to an Agatha Christie puzzle than a high-octane thriller, but Gatiss’s sly humor and flair for theatrical flourishes keep it lively. For viewers searching for a Sherlock style detective show without another Holmes pastiche, Bookish offers a fresh, bookish twist on the crime-solver archetype.
How to Watch Bookish Now—and What to Expect Next
Bookish has already introduced itself to international audiences via PBS, where season 1’s six episodes delivered three intricately structured cases in a binge-friendly package. With its perfect Rotten Tomatoes mystery credentials and early season 2 renewal, it’s positioned as one of the best new crime series to catch up on now before the conversation intensifies. Gatiss has teased that the upcoming episodes will be more ambitious, expanding beyond Gabriel Book’s familiar London haunts to destinations like Saville Row and even Germany. A holiday-themed case in an old castle promises a decidedly Agatha Christie-style locked-room thrill, while the show continues to probe the lingering trauma of World War II. Perhaps most tantalizing for fans, season 2 will dig further into the personal mystery connecting Book and Jack, exploring what really happened during Book’s wartime experiences and how those secrets shape their unlikely partnership.