Murder isn't the only source of mystery in this star-packed film

Johnson was by his own acknowledgment inspired by Agatha Christie in writing these movies, and there's some sense that his characters are people who, as Raymond Chandler wrote, are doing it to provide a corpse, rather than necessarily for credible motives. But while, again, there's still a lot of plot and a sense that Johnson's tongue is partly in his cheek in coming up with some of what happens, Wake Up Dead Man - the title taken from a U2 song - has a more serious side to it than its predecessors.

Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) is a former boxer who turned to Christianity and the priesthood after he killed a man in the ring. After punching a deacon, he is sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a church in a small town in upstate New York.

The church is run by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), who doesn't welcome the new arrival. Wicks is an angry, harsh man given to calling out the transgressions of specific members of his congregation from the pulpit. Unsurprisingly, this means the numbers have dwindled, but some congregants - masochists, presumably - remain.

Jud, whose approach to his faith is gentler and kinder, tries surreptitiously to organise a prayer meeting of his own but it doesn't go down well with either the faithful or the Monsignor. Poor Jud isn't dead, but his reputation in town is.

As is not uncommon in small towns, there's a lot of backstory and gossip. Wicks has never replaced the church's cross since it was destroyed by his mother Grace years ago during a violent rampage after her father Prentice cut her out of his will for being, allegedly, a "harlot whore". You could play a drinking game by imbibing every time that phrase is used, but I do not advise doing it with alcohol.

During a service on Good Friday, Wicks goes into a storage closet near the pulpit to recuperate after his sermon and collapses.

It's a strange death with no obvious way for it to have happened. Enter the police, led by chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis), and enter Blanc, whose interest is always piqued by a challenge.

Jud is the prime suspect but there are other people who might have motives of their own for wanting the Monsignor dead, or know more than they are saying.

Among the congregants, there's Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a doctor, and Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), a lawyer. Then there are Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), a concert cellist suffering from an undiagnosable condition, aspiring Republican politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), and science fiction writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), who's had a bit of a dry spell.

And there are the church workers, groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church) and organist and all-around assistant Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close).

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It's a fine cast and if you enjoyed the earlier films you'll want to see this, either in the cinema or in a little while on Netflix.

One striking element of the film is how it deals with religion. Some might regard the destruction of Christian objects and the story's "resurrection" as being in bad taste and the depiction of Wicks and some of his flock as unfair. And Blanc himself, the hero, is an avowed anti-theist and advocate of rational thinking.

But this is not a hatchet job on all things holy. Jud is a very sympathetic character (despite those fists) and Johnson has him make some good points in his verbal jousts with Blanc.

It gives the movie that serious side I mentioned earlier, something to ponder besides whodunit. Murder isn't the only source of mystery.