It would be unfair to call Wake Up Dead Man a conclusion to a trilogy, as other than their common premise and shared single character, the Knives Out films are more akin to episodes in a series. But based on the evidence of Rian Johnson’s third outing for Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, hopefully these episodes will run and run, as the pair have delivered the best entry yet in this always compelling series.

We can be at a point now where Craig’s mercurial Southern drawl is a comfort blanket to wrap ourselves in, rather than a distraction at the centre of a mystery. (The rumoured idea that Johnson briefly thought of Craig doing a different implausible accent in each film is thankfully not a path taken.) Craig, with a lusher spread of hair both atop his head and around his chin, still has an effortless style that most would envy, drifting into the narrative after the murder in a trench coat and three-piece suit that screams “world’s greatest detective” (and kudos to costumer designer Jenny Eagan for making Craig look distinctively strong).

But before his arrival, we begin in media res with priest Josh O’Connor outlining the events that have led to this chapter’s unfortunate, inexplicable crime that only Benoit Blanc can decipher. One of Johnson’s particular gifts is for impeccably pitched character names, and it’s Father Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) who relays the story of his unfortunate exile to a small town in upstate New York, where the church is being inexorably run into the ground by its resident priest, the self-styled Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). With his wildly inappropriate priestly confessions and blood and thunder rage from the pulpit, Duplenticy and Wicks are at loggerheads by the time Palm Sunday rolls around; six days later, on Good Friday, Wicks is stabbed to death in a seemingly empty room.

Thanks to its dwindling nature, the whole congregation are suspects: Martha (Glenn Close), the church’s server and organist who has been a lifelong presence in Chimney Rock. There’s lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) and the son she was forced to adopt, Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), who streams every inappropriate moment online to serve his own self-serving agenda. The town doctor, Nat (Jeremy Renner), is trying and failing to come to terms with the departure of his beloved wife, author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) has spiralled into terrible writing in thrall of Wicks’ hellish sermons, and Simone (Cailee Spaeny) is putting her faith – and live savings – in Wicks’ hands in the hope of a cure for her debilitating nerve condition. Only the church’s handyman Samson (Thomas Haden Church) seems above reproach, the innocent in a rogue’s gallery of suspects, but can anyone be trusted?

Johnson, of course, not only knows of the stock in trades and tropes of the murder mystery, he knows his meta audience, gorged on a constant diet of Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes adaptations in the modern era, knows them as well, and ha makes sure his characters are well-versed in them as well (murder mysteries are the current reading list from Oprah, one of many cheeky moments dropped into the script this time around). There is always a risk that the murder mystery genre will feel tired, but in gently acknowledging the otherworldliness and even the cliché of a locked-door murder mystery, Johnson brings his audience along for another ride full of as many twists and turns as the acrobat section of the local circus.

One particular facet of the series has always been its incredibly stacked casts, the very definition of all-star, with even smaller roles (Mila Kunis as the town’s weary police chief, Jeffrey Wright as a belligerent bishop) populated by famous faces. But the effect is never distracting, every one of the cast is clearly delighted to be involved, giving their all in the service of Benoit Blanc’s latest impossible mystery. Wake Up Dead Man’s story structure seeds regular clues and new pieces of information regularly, but the two-hour run time never feels overstuffed, instead allowing time for us to become familiar enough with each of the suspects to muse over their motivations.

Where Knives Out was a classic murder mystery, the suspects all gathered in a single house full of creepy nooks and crannies to mirror its dubious inhabitants, Glass Onion embraced the brash personal island of a grandstanding tech entrepreneur, sunshine and screams juxtaposed to refreshing effect. Here Johnson goes all in on creepy gothic, the church and its grounds offering plenty of stark, moody imagery (in particular, one shot replayed of a shadow cast across the church wall as the main door opens), and Blanc has been dropped into another contrasting milieu to see what he can see.

This is a darker film than its predecessors, not only through its visual aesthetic but also thematically, grappling in particular with the various faces of faith, belief, and the perils and pitfalls of organised religion. Wicks has his congregation in the palm of his hand but does so through fear and intimidation. In Draven’s hands, that power has the potential to seep into the wider world through the internet, and Johnson isn’t afraid to make a few pointed jabs at the evangelical hypocrisy of the right of US politics. But he also explores that vulnerability that can leave people dependent in hope or desperation, and the contrasts between Blanc’s detached, clinical detective and Duplenticy’s passionate, compassionate man of the cloth are well drawn and add depth to the usual level of mystery. Having Blanc have a different Watson to his Holmes in each film has been a rewarding choice, and O’Connor measures up effortlessly to the precedent set by Ana De Armas and Janelle Monae.

That’s not to say Wake Up Dead Man isn’t fun; if anything it’s the most laugh-out loud hilarious of the three, no small praise when the first two have been so gratifying for their humour as well as their smarts. It would all be for nought if the resolution was less than satisfying, and while there might need to be a slight suspension of disbelief that certain circumstances coalesce as conveniently, the denouement does what any good murder mystery should do, offering a solid resolution that also gives emotional catharsis to many of its characters.

Daniel Craig was James Bond for well over a decade, and it may be unfair to expect him to continue this partnership with Rian Johnson for a similar length of time. But, if they can continue to maintain this meticulously high standard of intelligence, characterisation, drama and fun every three or four years, hopefully we can continue to relish the adventures of the 21^st century’s greatest detective creation for just as long as the career of that secret agent…

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery screened at the London Film Festival, it opens to UK and Irish cinemas on 28 November

It’ll be on Netflix from 12 December