A
 Graveyard to Let (1949) by Carter Dickson. Carter Dickson is the
alter-ego of John Dickson Carr. I love Carr under either name. He is one
 of the kings of the locked room/impossible crime mysteries. I have read
 numerous books under both names and he has never repeated a trick. This
 one brings Sir Henry Merrivale to the US. On his way to Washington to
visit friends, Sir Henry receives a message from another friend to come
to his home in New York to witness a miracle. Before making his way to
Mr. Frederick Manning's house, Sir Henry has a few adventures with the
New York police and the New York subways. The miracle when it happens is
 a doozy....Frederick Manning dives into his swimming pool fully clothed
 and completely disappears--leaving his clothes behind One of the best
bits for me is the sly reference by one of the policemen to The Dragon
Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine. A very similar thing happened in Van
Dine's mystery....as the policeman says: "But, look! This was
about a guy who disappeared from a swimming pool too!...Yes, sir. Only
it wasn't daylight, it was night; and they couldn't see one end of the
pool." It looks for all the world like Manning has disappeared
to avoid being brought to book for embezzlement but, as always with
Dickson/Carr, nothing is exactly what it seems. Then Manning shows up in
 the graveyard adjacent to his property with a couple of knife wounds.
Will he make it? And who knew where to find the man who swam away? Will
Sir Henry be catching a murderer instead of an embezzler? The
entire story is a delight (as Carter Dickson/Carr's always are). Sir
Henry is his usual mischievous and mysterious self. And even reveals
some rather surprising talents on the baseball field. Like a good
magician, Dickson, manages to have the reader looking everywhere but at
the right clue at the right time. I have yet to figure out one of these
"impossible mysteries" and I don't mind being muddled by a master one
little bit. It was interesting to see what twist Dickson put on the man
disappearing from the pool. The only thing I was quite sure of was that
it wouldn't be Van Dine's trick...and I was right about that.

A Graveyard to Let PDF

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