Death Stops the Frolic - George Bellairs

I got this book via George Bellairs Literary Estate and Agora Books to review.

I have enjoyed quite a few of Bellairs books and especially Chief Inspector Littlejohn.
This is however not in the Littlejohn series, and I missed him and Sergeant Cromwell.

The story takes place in Swarebridge during WW2, where two murders are committed.
The senior deacon of the chapel of Zion is giving his annual performance as leader in follow-the-leader
at the  Anniversary Tea Party. He falls through a trapdoor and is stabbed to death. The sympathetic
Superintendent Nankivell is head of the investigation, but before he succeeds in finding the murderer,
another murder is committed.

I found the description of people in the community very good  and often very funny, and Bellairs
is also a master at creating the sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere in the close religious society
of Zion. The plot was a bit weak and not very exciting.