A Graveyard to Let by Carter Dickson

Sir Henry Merrivale, crime solver extraordinaire, has left England and has come to an exceptionally hot New York city. He has been invited by Mr. Frederick Manning of the Frederick Manning Foundation to come to Manning's home at Maralarch in Westchester County where Manning will "show him a miracle and challenge him to explain it."

After creating quite a disturbance at Grand Central Station, Sir Henry is driven to Maralarch by Cy Norton who had been a New York correspondent for a British newspaper and who had recently lost this job. At Maralarch, they meet Frederick Manning's three children, Crystal, Jean, and Bob. Crystal, the oldest at age 24 and already married three times,was pretentious and longed for a place in society. Bob, the one in the middle, was not the sharpest member of the family and was mainly interested in baseball. Jean, the youngest at 20, was an attractive and very pleasant young lady who was engaged to Huntington Davis.

At dinner that evening, Manning made some surprising announcements.  He informed his children that he had not really wanted them, and was not really fond of children. He had loved his wife very much, but she had died in a fire many years before. Now Manning had found a new love, Irene Stanley, whom his children referred to a "bubble dancer". He did informed his children that he had provided for their futures. Manning had also been charged with embezzling money from his foundation and he made no secret of this.

The next day, the family and Sir Henry had gathered around the swimming pool. Frederick Manning had been clipping the hedges that morning, but he too was now at the pool. Suddenly they heard the sound of the sirens of police motorcycles. Manning said "I fear that this is rather earlier than I expected" and jumped into the swimming pool fully dressed. Those around the edge of the pool watched as Manning's hat, shoes, coat, and trousers drifted to the top of the water. But Manning did not come up. A search of the water in the pool showed no sign of Manning or of any exit from the pool. Manning had disappeared in the swimming pool.

Sir Henry, of course, set about solving the problem of Manning's disappearance with his usual skill and wit.  He also demonstrates a remarkable skill on the baseball diamond. Carter Dickson is a pen name of John Dickson Carr who is a master of novels of locked rooms and unsolvable crimes. This book was published in 1949, and used copies are available at Amazon.