This thread is for reading third and final book in the Doggy Detectives trilogy.
Due to low interest, reading is unscheduled. This thread is available for any questions one has during their own independent reading.
For an idea of difficulty, you can check out the BookWalker listing’s preview (select the book cover on the page to open the preview).
Reading is unscheduled, but if you want to keep yourself on an Absolute Beginner Book Club page, here’s a suggested schedule:
| Week | Story | Part | Pages | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Story 1 | Case Part | 6–14 | 8 |
| Week 2 | Story 1 | Case Part | 15–23 | 9 |
| Week 3 | Story 1 | Case Part | 24–32 | 7 |
| Week 4 | Story 1 | Solution Part | 34–45 | 9 |
| Week 5 | Story 1 | Solution Part | 46–55 | 10 |
Break 1 
|
||||
| Week 6 | Story 2 | Case Part | 58–69 | 8 |
| Week 7 | Story 2 | Case Part | 70–81 | 10 |
| Week 8 | Story 2 | Case Part | 82–91 | 9 |
| Week 9 | Story 2 | Case Part | 92–103 | 10 |
| Week 10 | Story 2 | Case Part | 104–113 | 9 |
| Week 11 | Story 2 | Case Part | 114–124 | 8 |
| Break 2
|
||||
| Week 12 | Story 2 | Solution Part | 126–137 | 10 |
| Week 13 | Story 2 | Solution Part | 138–149 | 9 |
Note: Count excludes pages with no text.
Thanks very much for all your work on this 
If all goes well, we might have three people reading along!
Thoughts?
0 voters
I’m not sure what you mean by independent reading thread - do you mean that we would read it together as previously but without officially calling it a book club thread, or would that mean a fundamental difference to how the thread would be structured?
I believe it means that there won’t be a schedule, but rather: we read it at our own pace and there’s a thread to ask questions/discuss. I guess we’d have to use spoiler tags and page numbers judiciously 
I’d be up for that.
Please correct me if I’m wrong @ChristopherFritz
Alternatively, we could nominate it for the ABBC? I think these books have been an excellent choice for beginning readers. That might give us a wider readership, but it comes at the cost of having to wait until it is picked (if ever 
).
@Phryne has it right. It’d be a place to ask questions and get answers, but it would be entirely “read at your own pace” without a schedule.
That’s always possible, although I’m not certain how many people would want to jump in knowing it’s book three in a series (even if the books and cases are independent).
I do have a different book from the same author nominated for ABBC, but it hasn’t garnered much interest in the prior or current polls. (But that is undoubtedly due to the clear lack of and 
in that series.)
I don’t expect I’ll be reading at the same pace as the two of you, but perhaps now is a good jumping-off point for me to read more independently and every day instead of in big chunks in preparation for the start of each new week of a book club.
I might also do this book a bit more ‘tadoku-style’ and skip the laborious scanning/highlighting/note-writing bits and see if that makes it more like enjoyable reading than onerous study - wish me luck.
P.S. I’ve now voted in the poll!
I will try to join you guys - I often have trouble with book clubs as far as sticking to the pace - it tends to be that I want to finish an entire part of the case as a chunk on the weekend, I lean towards manga for daily reading during the week because they tend to be a bit easier for me. I personally would enjoy having a rough date for finishing each case/solution, even if we don’t have specific pages for each week (e.g. ongoing discussion on case 1 until week 3, for whatever part of it you’re on) if that’s doable.
Also fine with more of an open thread/read at your own pace type of thread. It might feel a bit silly to have a really scheduled book club for only 3-4 people.
I guess if the other book club is starting around November 13th I’ve got 5 1/2 weeks of independant-ish reading time on my hands… 
That’s practically more than enough time to read through book three, then re-read the first two and the two kitty ones for good measure, no?
I’ve just finished the characters page… (it was much easier than the first time 
)
So, are we allowed to start asking questions???
Absolutely. I was going to update the thread to “independent reading” about 12 hours ago, but I accidentally fell asleep for a bit…
Guess I should get my copy and start reading. I keep getting sidetracked - work’s been kicking my butt lately.
I’ve added a vocabulary list to the first post, in case anyone wants to make use of it. I’ll be adding words I don’t know to it. (At the moment it’s only one tab, but I’ll add more tabs today.)
I was just taking a trip down memory lane because it’s my 2 year Wanikani book clubversary this month and I noticed it was your help that really got me started @ChristopherFritz 
Before I read the solution to case one, I wanted to write up my thoughts on clues and potential culprit, and the (case part) of the first story in general:
Although I much prefer the character designs in the Kitty Detective series, Hanae’s looking quite adorable here.
I like the distinction between Inspector Kuroboshi asking for a “Strong-looking dog” rather than a “Strong dog”. I may have learned to really understand そう maybe a couple of years ago, but it still feels good to catch that Spitz’s selection was going to be what the inspector asked for, and not what he wanted.
First thought: Doesn’t this suspect description match…our own beloved Spitz???
Looking at the drawing, I couldn’t figure how it was that the suspect had a splotch of ink dripping from his shirt. I had to look up 水たまり (水溜り) to find out it’s actually dirty water; it would have felt great to determine what was on the shirt without a vocabulary look-up getting in the way, but every word I look up makes me appreciate all the ones I don’t have to look up these days.
Last night I went for a walk, and as I passed by this one house, two dogs looking out an open window on the second floor started barking at me. It was several houses before the end of a cul-de-sac, so they kept barking as I went around, and especially as I passed by the house again (across the street).
It reminded me of the case, because I’m wondering if the inspector and Spitz visited the houses in order coming from the burglered house. If so, then there could be a question of whether the dog was heard barking from around the corner as the police were giving chase. No barking could be a sign that no unknown people ran by, meaning the first guy is guilty. But I don’t think the case part of the story has given enough of a scaffolding for that to be a part of the solution. There’s no map showing the locations of the houses, which this author provides whenever it’s relevant to the solution.
I feel like this “play dead” trick could be relevant. If not, then I commend the author for adding a color bit to this man and his dog!
In my experience with detective stories, the aggressive guy who doesn’t like being accused often looks guilty, but isn’t. I’m sure there are detective stories out there where this kind of character is the guilty one, though. But I haven’t seen it done yet, so I’m wondering whether this will be the first time.
Is it just a coincidence that he’s pointing like the first suspect did for the “play dead” trick? I mean, just because suspect two points his finger doesn’t mean anything, right? I’m looking into it too much.
I had to re-read the “brushing teeth” part a few times before I realized it’s not to be taken literally. (I hope!)
Suspect number three looks like a good guy. Clearly he’s the guilty party. Without a doubt. Now if only there was a clue.
Since they arrived at the end of the alley, it sound like there could still be something about the order of the houses.
Looks like this page should be the hint at what clue to look for. One of the three doesn’t know anything about dogs.
Time to rewind:
Okayama in house one has a dog that can “play dead”. He also recognizes Spitz’s dog as a bulldog, but even I (someone who knows little about dogs) can do that.
Hiroshima in house two has a dog whose teeth are brushed with a file. But he obviously (hopefully!) wasn’t being serious about that. I’m not certain if the line about keeping the dogs apart is any sort of clue.
Doing a quick read up on the dobermann breed:
They’re a natural protector who won’t hesitate to act when they think their family is under threat, but they’re not aggressive without reason.
If the clue requires knowledge about dogs not covered in the case portion of the book, then this seems like it could qualify. The owner should know if his dog won’t go after a dog it doesn’t see as a threat. But the dog is fine with Hiroshima being there, so I don’t think there’s anything suspicious about him.
Yamaguchi in house three, I can’t find anything suspicious about what he said about his dog. (But I still think he looks too clean-cut not to be the guilty one!) We don’t see a dog house for his dog like the other two have, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Unless an old collie would usually sleep in a dog house if she had one?
Looking back at the chapter title, it’s “Beware of Dog Case”. But I’m not getting anything out of that…
Case 1 Solution Part
Me reading the clue presented here: “What? That’s not a thing. Is it?”
Me checking own shirt being worn: “Well, that’s just a coincidence.”
*Insert five minutes of looking up men’s and women’s shirts on clothing web sites.*
“It’s true!”
I locked myself into thinking that the burglar lived in one of the three houses. If I didn’t think that, it would have been obvious who the culprit was. But of course we’re supposed to think he lived there, so I suppose I’m fine with not catching that.
I knew that scene at the end of the case part would be related somehow, but I don’t know anything about dogs, so I would never have figured out this clue.
Non-spoiler remark: I missed every single clue. =(
This has to be my worst record since reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Whoever filled in the spreadsheet, thanks. There was a near-exact overlap with the vocab I didn’t know 
Two points for discussion regarding the vocabulary:
I agree that number 3 is clearly the guilty party, but I have no evidence to back that up either 
Right, off to read the solution!
… yeah, I missed all the clues as well
