'Bookish' Goes Meta in the Two-Part "Deadly Nitrate"

A quick apology before we dig into Bookish's second case of its first season. Due to a confluence of occurrences last Sunday (my birthday, several inches of snow followed by several more inches of ice), I did not manage to get a recap up for the first half of "Deadly Nitrate." Longtime readers of Telly Visions will probably recall my deep dislike of recapping two-part mysteries, to the point that I actually insisted on doing every-other-week recaps for Vienna Blood and Van der Valk because I was so annoyed by it. However, it was (and is) unfair of me to lump Bookish in with that group of feature-length mysteries cleaved in twain; Mark Gatiss (and his co-writers) actually penned the series to be six hours of three two-parters, not three 90-minute single episodes that someone else chopped in half.

Moreover, "Deadly Nitrate" opens with a delightfully meta conceit: a film, Lovelorn in London, is being shot on Archangel Lane, with affianced actors Sandra Dare (Joely Richardson) and Stewart Howard (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) starring as two neighboring shop owners who fell in love and are now ending things. The crew is right in front of Book's Shop, so he's spending the day watching the production, while Trottie is being an extra in her "Cake Shop."

Unfortunately, it's Trottie and the other extras, Linda (Shaniqua Okwok) and Barbara (Anna Munden), where the case begins: Barbara dies after eating chocolates she stole from a delivery box that were laced with strychnine by a crazed fan. Initially, they are assumed to be for Sandra, but they turn out to be sent to Stew. Inspector Bliss rolls up with Sgt Morris; the latter cannot really complain about Book's involvement in this one, since the case is squarely centered on his and Trottie's joint abodes. Production is immediately shut down, and Stew's assistant, Billy (Michael Workeye), who brought up the box from the mail, is sacked over it.

Director and writer Jesse Mackendrick (Luke Norris) isn't an unknown in these parts; Nora recognizes him as having been around during the war. However, Book hasn't met Nerina Bean (Amanda Drew), reporter for Picturegoer, before. She's someone both actors have a love-hate relationship with, exemplified by Stew quietly planning to slip her the news of their new three-picture deal and Sandra giving her exclusives even though they speak of her like garbage.

There's a lot going on with Sandra and Stew as it is: they're stuck in an eternal engagement they play-act for onlookers because it's good for their careers; Sandra is older than she pretends, having had an entire silent-film career under the name "Deirdre Piddick," and a late Italian husband who she spent the war in America with, returning to the U.K. after he passed. Though perhaps the more interesting angle is that of Linda and Barbara, superfans who communicate via magazines like Picturegoer, complete with 1940s-era in-person meetups. However, Linda notes that people who write letters (which are proto-RPF, aka real person fanfiction) use pseudonyms like "Basilisk," so no one actually knows who they are.

I didn't pay much attention to the Goodwyns when they showed up in the first episode, but they seem to be a running gag, with the Missus back this week for the sequel to The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Book slips her A Doll's House after her horrendous husband storms off to wait in the car. I don't know where that's going, but it's a fun, if random, tertiary subplot all the same.

Stew does not take well to learning he was the intended victim, but he does have a lot of enemies and a past as checkered as Sandra's, including a stint in prison. He and Jack hit it off over that, and Book volunteers Jack as Stew's new assistant, earning them both an invitation to the filming studios at Ladyhurst, where filming will continue. Of course, by the time they arrive (after Book gets a look at the set version of his shop), there's already another body, with Nerina Bean dead at the bottom of a stairwell, and inkstained words on her hand.

Bean was apparently sneaking around on set, having replaced the extra playing the postman on screen in between takes. Unfortunately, Bliss has another case to attend to, so he leaves Book in charge at Ladyhurst, and he and Morris dash off just as Trottie arrives with the Basilisk stash of letters from Picturegoer, whose turns of phrase match the person who sent the chocolates.

Trottie's arrival is well-timed, armed with charcoal pills for the next person who gets poisoned. It's Jesse, sitting right next to her, when he takes a sip of his coffee (once again, delivered by poor Billy). Trottie saves his life, while Book steals the contents of his bag, including a script he's written for a brand-new film, A Plea for Christiana. The subject of the script is Christiana Edmunds, a famous Victorian-era serial killer who poisoned her victims with chocolates laced with, you guessed it, strychnine. Book, naturally, has a book on the subject, and considering the paper bookmark in it matches the inkstained words on Nerina, it's pretty obvious these are linked.

It will surprise no one that Jesse faked his own poisoning to throw suspicion off himself. Thankfully, his final attempt to kill Stewart so he could marry Sandra and make her into a star is foiled by Book, though it was Jack who realized where the poison was and Billy who made sure to safely swap out the laced thumbtack, despite Stew's shoddy (and racist) treatment. Turns out Jesse is old money, and (like other certain billionaire scions who find themselves running American State Television) he bought his way into directing the film, all to get to Sandra, whom he has been obsessed with for years.

However, he didn't kill Nerina; that was all Sandra, trying to keep her past in the vault. She accidentally ran into Nerina, who had gotten her hands on Deidre's original debut silent film, and in their scuffle, Nerina fell backwards down the stairs and died instantly. Sandra threatens to blow herself up using the nitrate reel and her cigarette. Still, considering it was an accident (or at least she's good enough an actor to make that feel true), Book allows her to destroy the reel that would ruin her career, as long as she lets a jury decide her fate.

Poor Jack remains a man of mystery, perplexed by why he was taken in and snooping around in hopes of finding a clue. He does, too, in a pile of framed pictures in Trottie's room, one of which he recognizes. Snooping through her desk, he also finds a marriage certificate to one Eric Banks. He, of course, believes Trottie was in love with his dad, but he's only got it half right – Eric was Book's boyfriend, not Trottie's. How Jack will take learning all this turns out to be a subject for next week.

Bookish Season 1 continues with new episodes weekly every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, on most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All six episodes are available to stream for members on PBS Passport. Season 2 is already filming.