Wake Up Dead Man

Reverend Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer turned priest, is reassigned after punching a rude deacon. He arrives at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude in upstate New York to begin his new parish duties. The church is led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, whose lineage ties back to Prentice Wicks and a vanished fortune.

Jud's preaching is fiery and provocative, alienating most of the flock except his staunchest supporters. His incendiary style clashes with Wicks' cautious leadership, heightening tensions within the parish. As the congregation dwindles, the atmosphere grows stormy and unstable.

During a Good Friday service, Monsignor Wicks dies suddenly in a storage closet near the pulpit. He is stabbed with a knife fashioned from a devil's head lamp adornment that Jud had stolen and hurled through a church window. Jud becomes the prime suspect in the murder.

Police chief Geraldine Scott summons private detective Benoit Blanc to probe Wicks' death and the church's secrets. Blanc recruits Jud to help, convinced of his innocence despite Scott's objections. Together they begin to unravel a tangle of motives tied to faith, money, and buried histories.

After Wicks is buried in Prentice's mausoleum, Jud and Blanc question the congregants. They learn that Wicks had abruptly disavowed his followers at a meeting just before his death. The revelation hints at fractures within the church that could hide the truth.

Cy Draven, a failed politician, reveals that Wicks had found Prentice's fortune and planned to use it for a political career with Cy, who is revealed to be Prentice's illegitimate son. Jud, furious at the manipulation, withdraws from the case to tend to his ministry. The investigation stalls as personal grudges come to the fore.

Jud witnesses what seems to be Wicks leaving the mausoleum to embrace groundskeeper Samson, then is knocked out while pursuing them. He wakes beside Samson's corpse, realizing a murder plot is underway. Blanc grows suspicious that more is happening than a simple death.

Blanc and Jud trace the second adornment to Nat Sharp, the town doctor and Wicks' follower. They go to Nat's house and find a corpse dissolving in a tub of acid alongside Wicks' body. The discovery reveals a staged resurrection and a deeper conspiracy.

Blanc explains that Nat killed Wicks by spiking his private flask and switching the adornment, stabbing him while pretending to examine the corpse. He admits he cannot explain the so-called resurrection or why Wicks seemed to rise from his tomb. The congregation is left unsettled as the mystery widens.

Martha, Wicks's former assistant, returns to confess and reveals crucial backstory. Prentice swallowed a valuable diamond—the key to the fortune—and Grace sought to escape the church. Martha explains she plotted Wicks' murder with Nat, staged his resurrection, and aimed to restore faith.

Nat killed Samson to frame Jud and then tried to kill Martha to seize the gem. Martha tricks Nat into drinking coffee poisoned with pentobarbital, taking the rest herself. She dies after Jud provides last rites, and the diamond slips from her grasp.

One year later, Jud prepares to reopen the church, now named Our Lady of Perpetual Grace. Most former parishioners have moved on, while Cy threatens legal action over the diamond. In the end, the gem is discovered hidden inside a newly blessed crucifix, hinting at unresolved tension and a new beginning.