I feel like I’m missing something in this sentence on page 116.
ブラックがあるいた道とふたりの家の地図をかいてくれる?
I translate it as “Can you draw me a map of the path walked by Black and two people’s houses” - but the two peoples houses part doesn’t make any sense. Any thoughts please?
As for a solution:
I’m guessing the letter is in the coin lockers in the shopping street. Perhaps the thief is Carbonara, and he lost the key swimming across the river which is why he’s there again the next day searching? @ChristopherFritz I don’t think Cinderella is completely free from suspicion yet either…
It never occurred to me when I read it myself, but now that you mention it it is weird. The map itself doesn’t really designate any buildings other than the izakaya (which you could hardly call a house).
I don’t see how she gets anything from the shoe. It just looks like a normal shoe right? She describes it as おもそう - it looks heavy/solid. Does a heavier man need a more robust shoe?
My best guess is whoever’s foot is smaller than the shoe must be the owner, if the heavy-looking shoe fell off when they were running. But I’m sure that’s not going to be it. I hadn’t yet had a chance to really ponder on it, though.
You can see all the shoes on page 91. They all look very similar to me.
As for the kappa, which was important enough to make the title of the chapter, I assume it’s of no particular relevance to the case.
I’m guessing that saying you are swimming in the river looking for a kappa is a ridiculous and highly suspicious excuse. But for all I know kappa-hunting is a common and perfectly normal thing to find people doing in Japan…
But we can’t see their foot sizes in comparison to know if someone has small feet and therefore the shoes are a little too big (Not that I expect any relevance of foot/shoe size.)
Another possibility: the thief is Tabasco, and when he fled into the river, someone saw him and claimed there was a kappa in the river. Carbonara hears about this and goes kappa-hunting in the river.
I haven’t read at all this week (I will catch up!) and so, a question about this sentence on Page 109:
そういえば、ボンゴレさんは、ワンワン探偵団の話を二人にしたというし、犯人はこの二人のどちらかかな？
It took me a while to mostly understand. This is what I thought it meant (loosely translated) “By the way, because Bongore-san said he talked to two people about the dog detectives, is the thief one of those two?” Correct me if I’m wrong.
Is there a reason for the か and also かな？
I’m also a little slow this week.
Page 112 last sentence I’m not picking up the sense of. I think it I something like Because strange shoe holding isn’t of . But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Expanding on what @Phryne wrote, here’s a bit of a parsing of the grammar. These are common grammar, so it’s good to be at least vaguely aware of them. They’ll come up often.
Page 112 begins with narration:
ボンゴレさんとわかれてから、…
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ボンゴレさん is the client.
The particle と has multiple uses in various contexts. Here, it’s similar to “with” in English.
別れる is taught by WaniKani on level 13, with the meaning “to separate”. It can also be used to refer to part ways with someone. Here, it’s meant as “to part ways with Bongore-san”.
て following a verb is used to say “to do [verb] and (then)…”. When a verb + て is followed by から, the meaning is “after doing [verb]”.
This first clause (up to the comma) thus reads, “After parting ways with Mr. Bongore, …”
…『トムソーヤ』によった。
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We first see mention of トムソーヤ on page 57:
Here, we see Spitz has a neighboring (となり) picture book store (絵本の店) called “Tom Saywer”, and there is a person from the book shop named はなえ. You can also see the name of the store on Hanae’s outfit: (also seen on page 115)
The particle に has a variety of uses, but typically refers to a direction. Since it is attached to “Tom Saywer”, the action of the verb (which we haven’t gotten to yet) is toward the picture book store called “Tom Sawyer”.
And finally, the verb 寄る has a meaning of stopping off somewhere while heading to a different destination. For example, if you’re walking home from school, but stop by a friend’s house on the way. Here, Spitz is heading back home, but stops in to “Tom Sawyer” along the way.
This gets us to Hanae’s opening dialogue.
「あら、スピッツ。どうしたの、事件なの？」
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We immediately know it’s Hanae speaking for two reasons. First, she begins by saying あら, which is a bit feminine. Hanae uses more feminine language, and Spitz does not. Second, she addresses him by his name immediately after.
Next, she says どうした. This has various related meanings, along the lines of “why”.
The particle の here is one that is used at the end of a sentence (although here follows it with a comma). It’s used when one has made an incomplete observation (a result, without knowing the cause), and they seek to know the cause/reason for the result.
In this scene, Hanae has observed Spitz holding a shoe. This is an incomplete observation, because she doesn’t know why he’s carrying a shoe. By saying どうしたの, it’s clear Hanae is seeking to know the reason for her observation. (But at this point she has not articulated what she is asking about.)
This どうしたの doesn’t translate into English very well, because in English we’d need to use more words, and that would result in acknowledging what Hanae’s referring to (the shoe), information Spitz isn’t supposed to know (not knowing what Hanae’s referring to).
The second part of Hanae’s sentence, if it were a statement of fact, would be 「事件だ」 (“It’s a case.”) However, Hanae’s not making a statement. She’s inquiring about the reason for Spitz to be holding a shoe (her incomplete observation), seeking to find out if the reason (the part she doesn’t know) is that he’s on a case. Since she’s asking for the reason, の is added to the end of the sentence. And when adding の after the noun-sentence-ending だ, you change the だ to な. This results in 「事件なの？」, “It is that it’s a case?”
Anyone unfamiliar with this use of の, you’ll often find it referred to in grammar guides as the “explanatory の”, because the speaker is either asking for an explanation (seeking the unknown reason for their observed result), or they are offering an explanation (filling in reason for the observer who is only seeing the result).
Spitz replies:
「え、どうしてわかるんだい？」
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Whereas Hanae’s どうした is a pronoun, Spitz’s どうして is an adverb. It modifies the verb, giving a sense of “in what way (are you able to do [verb])?”
The verb is わかる, “to understand”. With the adverb, we get something like “how did you figure (that out)?” in English.
After the verb is の, but it’s being spoken as ん. The meaning doesn’t change any. It’s also worth noting that this の applies to the whole clause, not just the one word before it.
Spitz’s “How did you figure (that out)” is followed ん because he’s seen the result (Hanae figuring he’s on a case), but not the cause/reason (how she was able to figure it out).
(The だい at the end I’m familiar with from context, but not from reading up on it, so I’ll leave this one not commented on.)
Hanae fills in her reasoning:
「だって、へんなくつを持ってる …
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My reply is getting a bit long, so I’ll simply mention this sentence reads as, “After all, you’re holding a strange shoe.”
… じゃないの。」
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The じゃない (as @Phryne mentioned) is like “isn’t it?” in English, but also “aren’t you” as well.
And the final の is being used to provide the reason (rather than ask the reason):
“After all, you’re carrying a strange shoe, aren’t you?”
(Not that I expect any relevance of foot/shoe size.)
I guess they’ve been on my mind lately 
