Before there was Littlejohn, there was Nankivell.

With his classic wit and trademark style, George Bellairs delivers this standalone mystery sure to keep you guessing. 

And when they’re up, they’re up-up-up, And when they’re down, they’re down, And when they’re half-way up… 

On a joyous afternoon filled with tea and cake, something strange happens at Zion Chapel’s Anniversary Tea Party. The infamous Alderman Harbuttle is behaving uncharacteristically playful – laughing with the assembly, singing rhymes, and leading people in a rousing game of Follow-My-Leader throughout the chapel’s winding halls. 

But his jubilee is cut short when the revellers find the Alderman’s murdered body in the dark recesses of the chapel, a bread knife buried to the hilt in his chest. 

Superintendent Nankivell of the local police force takes up the case, and his investigation quickly stirs up sinister secrets lurking within the walls of Zion Chapel. His suspect list soon proves massive, as he learns there are many people who would be happier without the sanctimonious Alderman Harbuttle around… 

Death Stops the Frolic was first published as Turmoil in Zion in 1943.