Ooh I see! Somehow that didn’t even register as unusual when I read it.
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So, Seven Stars seems to be a cigarette brand. In case someone else is also wondering why someone would take seven stars out of their pocket 
It’s so weird that they’re smoking so much. And indoors too! 
(How the times change…)
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Has anyone else in this little mystery club read any of the Saikawa and Moe series (すべてがｆになる etc…). This quote from the first section of chapter one really reminded me of Saikawa at his most annoying when he’s being like ‘what? you all didn’t already figure out this super complex thing already? Really?! Oh well, I guess I’ll explain if I really have to…’ 
「そう。もちろんそうさ。恐らく彼は、最先端の法医学や鑑識科学の知識を山ほど引っさげて登場するんだ。そして可哀想なワトスン君に説明する。読者の知識がとうてい及びもつかないような、難解な専門用語や数式を羅列してね。あまりにも明白だよワトスン君、こんなことも知らないのかいワトスン君……」
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Being now further into chapter 1, I have to agree that it gets easier… for now. They were talking about normal stuff like whether there is electricity or running water, etc. That was more everday life vocab. (I don’t really care about grammar when I read. While I suck at answering grammar questions, I luckily seem to do quite well understanding grammar when I encounter it. 
)
I hope the language stays on the current level. That’s much more doable (and pleasant to read) than the beginning. 
I wonder who is going to die first… 
Edit: Does anyone know why the author keeps excessively emphasizing words (圏点) and whole phrases?
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There’s another cigarette brand mentioned later too! セーラム which I at least recognized because it used to be sold here too (no idea about now). But I had the same reaction - so much smoking! And everywhere! I see a lot of vaping but rarely actual cigarettes these days.
I finished this week’s reading last night and I’d say it stays at the same level grammar wise. There are a spike in unusual vocab towards the end of the chapter, but it’s nothing near the same amount as the beginning.
I felt pretty comfy / cruising speed reading everything after the epilogue, but there was one sentence in particular that puzzled me. For context on where in the chapter, it was a discussion about Agatha by two of the boys.
で、その腹いせにっていうのかどうか知らないが、今度はオルツィにちょっかいをかけたら、これまた相手にしてもらえなかったらしいんだな
I feel like I’m following until that final clause.
I think it’s like, “So, I don’t know if it was out of spite or what," from で、その腹いせにっていうのかどうか知らないが
“(she said?) if you mess with Orczy this time” from 今度はオルツィにちょっかいをかけたら
I will reject you again? I won’t be your partner? これまた相手にしてもらえなかったらしいんだな
I was puzzling over it for quite some time and I’m sure it’s something simple and once I know it will all click into place but I’m still ??? trying to parse it. I care too cause it’s about character relationships! 
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The way I understood this is: They are not talking about Agatha but about Carr and Carr got dumped by Agatha, then made a pass at Orczy and she refused him as well. i.e. And then - I don’t know if it was just to spite (Agatha) or whatever - he made a
pass at Orczy, but it seems she also didn’t agree to be his partner.
I have finished the reading as well yesterday. Why are they suddenly talking about the rabbit on the moon? What does this have to do with anything? 
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It was probably still perfectly normal at the time 
and I think there’s still indoor smoking in Japan even now. At least, when we were there a few years ago, the first restaurant that we went to had some guys sitting at the counter who were smoking all evening.
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On the other hand, Japan has designated smoking areas even in parks. Here, as long as you are outside, you can smoke anywhere. 
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If anyone else is like me and finds it hard to imagine floorplans etc in their heads, you might also find this simple illustration of the layout of the house from the manga useful!
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Does your novel copy not have a floor plan? Mine has a floor plan inserted, just without the drawings of the characters 
edit:
edit 2: can I bring up that 1 toilet and 1 bath for that many people seems unpleasant?
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haha, turns out that I do, just on the page after where I had stopped reading! (in fairness to me, it’s located a few pages into the 3rd section, whereas the sections of text that initially describe the layout and prompted me to search for a floor plan are in section 2)
Nice of them to include it though!
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I’m about to finish up the first section of chapter 1, and I wanted to double-check Ellery’s spiel he was monologuing for the first part. One of those situations where I understood the definitions of all the words, but what he was saying eluded me. :\ What was with all the 知的’s being thrown about?
(Also, I just want to say that ルルウ for LeRoux I would never have guessed if they hadn’t told me.)
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I also found that conversation quite difficult to figure out at times so I may well be wrong but what I generally got from it was-
Ellery is saying that detective fiction is all about the intellectual game between the reader and the author, where the reader can try to solve the mystery. As opposed to more hard boiled/noir style crime writing which is more realistic and about unpleasant realities and more concerned with good detective work rather than a smart ‘great detective’ character that solves things with their wits. There’s also some discussion back and forth about 知識 where Carr is protesting because he is saying that everyone should be able to enjoy mysteries even if they aren’t an intellectual, and Ellery says that he means 知識 in the sense that the reader enjoys the intellectual game that the mystery is, regardless of whether they are actually really smart or not.
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Aah, that makes a lot of sense! Thank you!
On a side note, I think I’m going to pick up a book or two by the authors the kids are nicknamed after; I think Ellery is the only one I’ve never heard of and never heard of any of their body of work, but I think Christie is the only one I’ve actually read. I’ve read Poe, but not his mystery works in particular.
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Ellery’s name is rather fitting:
" The Queen novels are examples of the classic “fair play” whodunit mystery, and are textbook examples of what became known as the Golden age of detective fiction. Because the reader obtains clues in the same way as the protagonist detective, the book becomes an intellectually challenging puzzle. Mystery writer John Dickson Carr termed it “the grandest game in the world”." 
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Same, from what I’ve read feel this is definitely above the hardest thing I’ve read (よう実, level 32). No idea how hard books in the 40s are, but looking at other books I presume this should be in the mid 30s.
Only up to Chapter 1 part 4, as I need to finish off some manga first as I pledged to actually read some manga this month. The prologue and chapter 1 part 1 were nasty… Although, I agree it seems to get easier. That might be because the initial descriptions where tough, but characters talking isn’t too bad.
Living in Japan advantage there 
The cigarette brands are still in full display in every コンビニ, so you see Seven Star all the time.
Mine mentions one (twice now), but I haven’t seen one yet! I guess it’s at the end of the chapter, but I’ll probably pick up the first volume of the manga.
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相手にしない is less literally about being a ‘partner’ to someone. It means something more like to ‘to snub’, ‘ignore’, ‘to give the cold shoulder’, ‘to not take seriously’
The opposite 相手にする is similarly figurative.
They assigned kanji for their nicknames! That’s so cool. Now I’m wondering if non Japanese authors (used to?) get kanji to their names as a rule.
I’ve also been thinking about that! It might be nice to throw in a couple works and build up my mystery book reference repertoire.
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Isn’t that manga in Chinese? Looking at the names of the toilet, kitchen, and such
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Yes, thank you for explaining that. I forgot to make that clear. I was going for a very literal translation. 
I thought about this, too. I might just pick the books up in the order the ppl get killed in… since they are all older books my library has them readily available. 
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Ah, now that’s a good thought. 
Extremely thematic! Also keeps me from getting overwhelmed by all this new reading material I’m suddenly interested in.
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