Bookish, directed by Carolina Giammetta, goes beyond just being a whodunit. It transports you back to the mid-1940s and gives you a rather profound insight (particularly for this genre) into the life and times of the people from that era. It sheds light on the socio-political landscape of the country and makes us privy to the struggles of a closeted gay man living in an orthodox society. The detailing, the intricate world-building, and the nuanced performances make you feel like you are watching a social commentary rather than just a Sherlock-esque murder mystery. Book, aka Gabriel, as the name suggested, was the owner of a bookstore in London who had a knack for solving murder mysteries. Such was his reputation that Inspector Bliss never failed to seek his advice while handling a complicated case. The local sergeant, Morris, didn’t like the fact that a civilian, time and again, was made a part of official investigations, but he couldn’t go against the wishes of the inspector. One day, a boy named Jack, who happened to be an orphan, and who had just served a sentence, was sent over to Book’s shop, as the part-time sleuth was apparently looking for an assistant. Little did Jack know that it was Book who had located him, and there was a reason why he wanted to look after him. Jack had his doubts, but till the very end he wasn’t able to understand why Book and Trottie, aka Mrs. Book, were so generous towards him. So let’s find out if Book was able to solve the cases that came his way, and what they were hiding from Jack all that while.
Spoiler Alert
Who killed Mr. Harkup?
There were two things that happened in Bookish episode 1: firstly, a mass grave was found in the town, and a well-known chemist named Mr. Harkup was found dead in his house. Book went to the mass grave and found an assemblage of skeletons lying there. Firstly, it was presumed that a bunch of people might have been hiding there during a raid, but Book didn’t think so. He found a coin lying on the ground that dated back to the 1600s, when the Great Plague of London happened. So the case was closed, and the victims were believed to be people who had lost their lives during that great tragedy. But Book had a knack for noticing details. He saw that one of the skeletons didn’t look that old, and there was something weird about it. He didn’t tell Bliss or Morris anything at that moment and he chose to just walk away. Then Book went to examine Harkup’s dead body, and he found certain intriguing details, such as how the head had a lump on it, and so it was clear that somebody had hit Harkup before he consumed or was made to consume the poison. So that meant that it was not an act of suicide, but somebody wanted it to look that way. Apart from that, one of the expensive antiques that Harkup collected was missing, and it had been replaced by a chess pawn, which was not hard to identify. The prime suspect of the case was Harkup’s daughter, Merula, who didn’t share a very good bond with her father. She had married a guy named Mickey against Harkup’s wishes, and also, to everybody’s surprise, her name was not included in his will. The second suspect was a woman named Ada Dredge, who worked as Harkup’s helper in the pharmacy. Harkup had left everything he owned to her, and Bliss had every reason to believe that she had killed the man to expedite the process. But that’s what the real killer wanted the authorities to believe. Book had noticed that the local butcher, Eric, happened to be one of those people who met Harkup every Monday and Thursday to play dominoes. He was lying to everybody that his wife was out of town for some reason. When Book investigated the matter, he found out that Eric had been having an affair with his helper, Enid Clegg. It was quite evident looking at their body language that they were in love. Eric had killed his wife, and through alkaline hydrolysis, he had dissolved her body. He then dumped the bones at the mass grave, expecting that nobody would figure it out. Harkup didn’t know about that, but he was mad at Eric for cheating at dominoes. He told Eric that he knew what he was up to, and the latter thought that he had found out about the murder. Enid took charge of things from that point, and she went and murdered Harkup at his home. It was a comedy of errors that led to Harkup losing his life. The man was just too serious about the game he played, and he didn’t want a cheater for company.
Did Sandra intentionally kill Nerina Bean?
The second case that Book got involved in was when a production house rented his bookstore for the shooting of a film. Stewart Howard and Sandra Dare, probably the most talked about celebrity couple, were playing the lead roles, when suddenly, tragedy struck, and nobody could figure out what exactly had happened. An extra named Barbara Markham consumed chocolate that was poisoned. Once Book took charge of the investigation, he figured out that the chocolates were meant for Howard, not the extra. The director of the film, Jesse MacKendrick, had spent time in Book’s neighborhood prior to the commencement of the shooting. He had already written the script for his next venture that he was going to direct. Book got his hands on the book that Jesse drew inspiration from, and that’s when certain secrets were revealed. But before Book could come to any conclusion, an entertainment journalist named Nurina Bean was also found dead on the set. She had fallen down the staircase, and it did feel like somebody had pushed her as they had something against her. To make matters worse, somebody tried to poison Jesse MacKendrick too, but that’s when Book got to know exactly what was happening. Book analyzed Jesse’s response to him being poisoned, and he figured out that he was pretending to be the victim. In reality, it was Jesse who wanted to kill Howard. Jesse was in love with Sandra, and he wanted to make a masterpiece with her in the lead role. Sandra had nothing to do with it, and she was quite surprised when she found out. She was dealing with her own struggles, as she knew that she was already 45 years old, and she didn’t want to become irrelevant because of her age. There was a film that she had acted in back in the day, and Nurina had gotten her hands on its master print. Sandra, who had always lied about her age, knew that if the people came to know about that film, they would be able to guess her age. According to Sandra, she’d tried taking that master film from Nurina, and she’d accidentally fallen down the stairs and met her fateful end. But I don’t think that is what happened. I believe Sandra killed Nurina and made it look like an accident. Probably Book also knew about it, but he chose to stay quiet, as there was no incriminating evidence to prove her guilt.
Who was behind Mr. Victor Orr’s murder?
The third and final case revolved around what happened to the British passenger ship SS Arandora Star on the 2nd of July, 1940. The ship was carrying a number of Anglo-Italians, Anglo-Germans, and some other people to Canada. A naval officer named Victor Orr had used his influence to send a girl named Maria on that ship. The vessel was then torpedoed by a German U-boat, and it was a horrifying tragedy. Maria’s brother sought redemption, and he patiently waited for the day when he would be able to kill the naval officer. Her brother, Marco, believed that Victor did it on purpose, as he wanted to get rid of Maria since she was pregnant with his baby. Marco believed that the naval officer didn’t want the world to know about what he had done, and so he’d just sent a poor innocent girl into the jaws of death. Marco was working as a bartender at a reputed hotel when he saw naval officer Victor Orr right in front of his eyes. He couldn’t control his anger, and he ended up poisoning his drink, which led to his demise. Two sisters, named Nafije and Ruhije, who were Balkan royalty, were also staying at that hotel. They at first spread the lie that the killer was there to kill them, and Victor had only accidentally been murdered. But Book found out that that was also not the truth. In fact, it was Ruhije who spread the lie, as she wanted to stay relevant. There was a time, when the sisters had just been exiled from the country, that the people of America felt honored to be in their presence. But slowly they were sidelined, and nobody really bothered to invite them to special occasions. That’s when Ruhije decided that she would have to pull a stunt to regain her lost glory. She’d lost one of her sisters to the communists, and she didn’t want a similar fate for Nafije. But Victor Orr’s death made them realize that there was an actual murderer at the scene, and that’s what changed the entire narrative. Book understood Marco’s plight, and he sympathized with him. But he also knew that he would have to be put behind bars for what he had done.
What Were Book And Trottie Hiding From Jack?
At the beginning of Bookish, Jack figured out that Book was not Trottie’s first husband. He saw a picture of a man in Book’s house, and he knew that the man was his own father, since he also had a passport-sized picture of him in his possession. Jack didn’t even know the name of his father, but he connected the wrong dots and started believing that Trottie was his mother. When he confronted both Book and Trottie, he got to know that the reality was very different from what he presumed. Jack’s father, Felix, and Book were in love with each other. They knew society would never let them be together. Book and Felix parted ways, and soon after that, the former heard of the latter’s demise. Book didn’t know what happened to his friend, but one day, while he was going through a notebook that Felix had left for him, he came across a piece of information. He got to know that Felix had a son, and he wanted Book to take care of him. Felix meant the world to Book, even if he couldn’t give a name to their relationship. Had it not been for Trottie, I believe Book would have been put behind bars. Trottie knew that Book was gay, and she saved his life by testifying that she was his fiancée when he was caught by the authorities for “indecent behavior.” Trottie and Book entered into a sort of arrangement where they both pretended to be a married couple, but they entertained other men and women for sexual gratification. That was why Trottie was with Victor Orr, as she wanted to have some fun that day.
At first, Jack didn’t approve of Book’s actions, but then slowly he realized that he couldn’t look down on them after all they had done for him. Homosexuality was still taboo, and so was an arrangement like Trottie and Book’s. But Jack came to them at the end and decided to keep working at the bookstore. It was a bleak world, where differences in opinion were silenced, where being gay was the biggest imaginable sin, where society was as shallow as one could imagine, and anyone yearning for liberation and freedom from the societal pressure was left feeling suffocated. I am quite certain that the central premise of Bookish Season 2 will revolve around Jack, Trottie, and Book embarking on a quest to uncover the truth behind Felix’s death. Apart from that, I think Book will keep solving complicated cases and helping Inspector Bliss out in whatever way he can.
