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The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays
Not yet published
Expected 26 May 26
In the Heart of Mystery Lies Redemption...
Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.
When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center's mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.
But Oona holds two she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.
An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.
When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center's mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.
But Oona holds two she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.
An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
416 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 26, 2026
About the author
Andrea Hairston
20 books385 followersAndrea Hairston is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright and novelist who is best known for her novels Mindscape and Redwood and Wildfire. Mindscape, Hairston's first novel, won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award and short-listed for the Philip K. Dick Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
She is the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre and has created original productions with music, dance, and masks for more than a decade. Hairston is also the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She teaches playwriting, African, African American, and Caribbean theatre literature. Her plays have been produced at Yale Rep, Rites and Reason, the Kennedy Center, StageWest, and on public radio and television. In addition, Hairston has translated plays by Michael Ende and Kaca Celan from German to English.
(source: Wikipedia)
She is the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre and has created original productions with music, dance, and masks for more than a decade. Hairston is also the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She teaches playwriting, African, African American, and Caribbean theatre literature. Her plays have been produced at Yale Rep, Rites and Reason, the Kennedy Center, StageWest, and on public radio and television. In addition, Hairston has translated plays by Michael Ende and Kaca Celan from German to English.
(source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 7, 2026
Thank you Tor Books @tor.com Netgalley @netgalley and Andrea Hairston for this free book!
“The RedemptionCenter is Closed on Sundays” by Andrea Hairston ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Dystopian Fiction.
Every Sunday, Oona the otherworldly St. Berdoodle and current owner Zsuzsu follow the State Park’s winding paths to the enigmatic Redemption Center mansion. When a neighbor is murdered, Oona and a group of local misfits try to untangle the threads of murder and deception. Oona has 2 secrets: 1. She’s a citizen of the multiverse, raised by a carnival family, able to travel between dimensions at will. 2. She knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and plans to silence her and her friends for good.
Author Hairston’s book is filled with introspective misfit characters, including Paula, believer in magic and peace, podcast journalist An’quenique-and then there’s Oona the dog detective, looking for her carnival family, but who just can’t stop chasing the scent of a new case. The quirky plot includes magic, mystery, aliens, and a focus on the goodness and braveness of people. In Hairston’s interdimensional universe, community wins over evil-and don’t we all wish that was the case here on our non-magical earth!
From the cover, you might think this is a cozy, dog-centered, scifi/fantasy mystery. There IS a lovable dog, and there IS a murder to be solved. But the focus is on community, justice, dystopian climate change, and following the “peace path”. The writing is full of shifting perspectives, random quirky characters, metaphors, and stream-of-consciousness ponderings. Those unique characteristics, at least for me, made it hard to read. At one point, character Paula ponders: “In the welter of clues, how did you sort the signal from the noise?” That’s the question I ask myself about this story…and I don’t know the answer. I had trouble sorting it all out. It’s 3⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼🦳 #netgalley
“The RedemptionCenter is Closed on Sundays” by Andrea Hairston ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Dystopian Fiction.
Every Sunday, Oona the otherworldly St. Berdoodle and current owner Zsuzsu follow the State Park’s winding paths to the enigmatic Redemption Center mansion. When a neighbor is murdered, Oona and a group of local misfits try to untangle the threads of murder and deception. Oona has 2 secrets: 1. She’s a citizen of the multiverse, raised by a carnival family, able to travel between dimensions at will. 2. She knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and plans to silence her and her friends for good.
Author Hairston’s book is filled with introspective misfit characters, including Paula, believer in magic and peace, podcast journalist An’quenique-and then there’s Oona the dog detective, looking for her carnival family, but who just can’t stop chasing the scent of a new case. The quirky plot includes magic, mystery, aliens, and a focus on the goodness and braveness of people. In Hairston’s interdimensional universe, community wins over evil-and don’t we all wish that was the case here on our non-magical earth!
From the cover, you might think this is a cozy, dog-centered, scifi/fantasy mystery. There IS a lovable dog, and there IS a murder to be solved. But the focus is on community, justice, dystopian climate change, and following the “peace path”. The writing is full of shifting perspectives, random quirky characters, metaphors, and stream-of-consciousness ponderings. Those unique characteristics, at least for me, made it hard to read. At one point, character Paula ponders: “In the welter of clues, how did you sort the signal from the noise?” That’s the question I ask myself about this story…and I don’t know the answer. I had trouble sorting it all out. It’s 3⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼🦳 #netgalley
May 3, 2026
i am hesitant to give an uncorrected advance copy such a low score, but even if the multiple editing/writing errors were fixed i just dont think this would have worked for me. too convoluted, too many characters, too all over the place
that said, there’s a certain charm to it, and certainly if youre a big murder mystery fan and love a spanning diverse cast this may be your speed
thank u for the free copy!
that said, there’s a certain charm to it, and certainly if youre a big murder mystery fan and love a spanning diverse cast this may be your speed
thank u for the free copy!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
What a trippy little larger-than-life, community-centered mystery! The Redemption Center is Closed On Sundays is a swirl through time and multiple universes as a clever St. Berdoodle solves a mystery alongside a gaggle of interconnected humans.
Oona the St. Berdoodle loves the little community she’s built, from her current owner Zsuzsu to her popcorn pal Paula to her buddy at the library Belle. But when the town is rocked by a second bizarre murder, Oona has to unite her crew of misfits to take down the killer. The victims are found with torture marks and clutching dead exotic animals, and the found footage doesn’t make any sense at all.
What the humans don’t know is that Oona is a dimension-hopper and a brilliant search-and-rescue dog (thanks to the training from her former carnival crew) … and the murderer knows that she’s the only witness to the latest killing. Oona has to forge her way through tricky aliens and humans alike - and the mysterious Redemption Center, sitting in an in-between space - to catch the bad guy and make sure nobody else gets hurt.
Truthfully, this book wasn’t at all what I expected. I sat down ready for a quirky & cozy murder mystery, and what I got instead was a tender look at humanity. This isn’t a straightforward read at all. We bounce around between perspectives (both Oona’s and the humans surrounding her) and are almost-overwhelmingly initiated into this community of complicated outcasts hoping to do good, build relationships, and feel okay.
I think Andrea Hairston’s imagination knows no bounds. SO many different elements collided here, from group songs to fascinating villainous outfits to incredibly unique narrative voices. My mind was swirling through at least half of this - especially attempting to keep track of our ever-growing crew - but by the end of the book, I was fiercely involved. Don’t bail, okay? It’s a bit of a challenge, but it’s also a fresh kind of storytelling. My curiosity meter was off-the-charts, and that’s what helped me break through the confusion.
The narration is pretty evenly split up, but it’s hard not to feel particularly attached to Oona’s chapters. She’s a bit enigmatic, and I loved it. She’s not your typical dog (she’s a citizen of the multiverse, after all), and she understands a LOT of what’s happening around her, but she’s also still a dog! She has her own unique perspective and relationship to other animals and the world as a whole. Oona is determined, smart, and can win just about anybody over.
I appreciated the casual inclusivity and gentleness between all of the protagonists. Nobody feels like a stereotype; every character is so SPECIFIC and has their own brand of quirkiness. We meet disabled and queer characters; we meet analytical house cleaners and VR-obsessed podcasters and social activist librarians and a gaggle of gym rats wearing matching shoes. They’re all defined and unique, but also felt like people I knew by the end of the book.
This story is sometimes non-linear. It blends the lines between several genres. It lets its narrators go off on brain-swirling tangents about community change and social justice. It’s funky and I think it does occasionally lose its way, but it always charmed me. Because ultimately - murders and losses of loved ones aside - it is a story of hope, and how we can build better futures and find love & companionship wherever we turn.
CW: murder, death, kidnapping, poisoning, suicide, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty, gun violence, torture, child abuse (kidnapping), confinement, sexism, memory loss, mental health, corrupt police
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Oona the St. Berdoodle loves the little community she’s built, from her current owner Zsuzsu to her popcorn pal Paula to her buddy at the library Belle. But when the town is rocked by a second bizarre murder, Oona has to unite her crew of misfits to take down the killer. The victims are found with torture marks and clutching dead exotic animals, and the found footage doesn’t make any sense at all.
What the humans don’t know is that Oona is a dimension-hopper and a brilliant search-and-rescue dog (thanks to the training from her former carnival crew) … and the murderer knows that she’s the only witness to the latest killing. Oona has to forge her way through tricky aliens and humans alike - and the mysterious Redemption Center, sitting in an in-between space - to catch the bad guy and make sure nobody else gets hurt.
Truthfully, this book wasn’t at all what I expected. I sat down ready for a quirky & cozy murder mystery, and what I got instead was a tender look at humanity. This isn’t a straightforward read at all. We bounce around between perspectives (both Oona’s and the humans surrounding her) and are almost-overwhelmingly initiated into this community of complicated outcasts hoping to do good, build relationships, and feel okay.
I think Andrea Hairston’s imagination knows no bounds. SO many different elements collided here, from group songs to fascinating villainous outfits to incredibly unique narrative voices. My mind was swirling through at least half of this - especially attempting to keep track of our ever-growing crew - but by the end of the book, I was fiercely involved. Don’t bail, okay? It’s a bit of a challenge, but it’s also a fresh kind of storytelling. My curiosity meter was off-the-charts, and that’s what helped me break through the confusion.
The narration is pretty evenly split up, but it’s hard not to feel particularly attached to Oona’s chapters. She’s a bit enigmatic, and I loved it. She’s not your typical dog (she’s a citizen of the multiverse, after all), and she understands a LOT of what’s happening around her, but she’s also still a dog! She has her own unique perspective and relationship to other animals and the world as a whole. Oona is determined, smart, and can win just about anybody over.
I appreciated the casual inclusivity and gentleness between all of the protagonists. Nobody feels like a stereotype; every character is so SPECIFIC and has their own brand of quirkiness. We meet disabled and queer characters; we meet analytical house cleaners and VR-obsessed podcasters and social activist librarians and a gaggle of gym rats wearing matching shoes. They’re all defined and unique, but also felt like people I knew by the end of the book.
This story is sometimes non-linear. It blends the lines between several genres. It lets its narrators go off on brain-swirling tangents about community change and social justice. It’s funky and I think it does occasionally lose its way, but it always charmed me. Because ultimately - murders and losses of loved ones aside - it is a story of hope, and how we can build better futures and find love & companionship wherever we turn.
CW: murder, death, kidnapping, poisoning, suicide, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty, gun violence, torture, child abuse (kidnapping), confinement, sexism, memory loss, mental health, corrupt police
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this book of speculative fiction and mystery featuring a very good dog, a varied cast of characters, murder and whole lot more.
My last dog, and probably the last dog, probably last pet I will ever have, was a genius who walked on four paws, just because she wanted to. Mattie was the smartest dog I have ever had and ever seen. 40 pounds of mutt who walked like King Kong, sure of everything she did, who let me into her life, let me feed her, and clean up after her. Mattie was there when I lost my father, lost the best job I ever had, and in many ways felt lost in the world. We did a lot, but the one thing I regret is that I never let her solve mysteries. I think Mattie would have been quite good at that. Though I think this book might be a lot of a dog to take on. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston is a story about the world we live in, the people around us, everyone good, bad, mad or indifferent in their own way, and a dog just trying to find its family, who keeps finding bodies.
Paula is trying to get to work when she is stopped by a fellow tenant, who spends a lot of time body building, and a lot of time worried about the world, He tells her about another muder in their small town in New England, the second that seems creepier than usual. The first was a waitress no on like, but this one is important. A social media influences, found dead in the same mysterious way. And maybe found by a dog. Paula fixes the man's wifi and leaves, but with thoughts about the dog, one that might be familiar to her. Oona is the dog in question, looking for her carnival friends, but doing their best to survive while trying to get a scent of their missing owners. Oona has abilities far beyond other dogs, and Paula and Oona start to work together in finding out what is going on. For this town has a lot of secrets, and a lot of people trying to do right, try to get by, and try to get away with murder.
This is not a cozy, though it might sound like one. Actually it is hard to say what it is. Speculative fiction about this modern world, with a dog and a large cast of characters is a good place to start. The book drops the reader right in, with Paula and her discussion about what is going on, and does have a lot of different narrators sharing things, including the dog Oona. There is a lot going on. A large business doing odd things, weird bodybuilders, an a lot of discussion about social justice, even African myth. There is a bit of a learner's curve, but one figures out what is going on, pretty quickly. A quirky story that takes a bit, but in the end was interesting, and kind of fun.
My last dog, and probably the last dog, probably last pet I will ever have, was a genius who walked on four paws, just because she wanted to. Mattie was the smartest dog I have ever had and ever seen. 40 pounds of mutt who walked like King Kong, sure of everything she did, who let me into her life, let me feed her, and clean up after her. Mattie was there when I lost my father, lost the best job I ever had, and in many ways felt lost in the world. We did a lot, but the one thing I regret is that I never let her solve mysteries. I think Mattie would have been quite good at that. Though I think this book might be a lot of a dog to take on. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston is a story about the world we live in, the people around us, everyone good, bad, mad or indifferent in their own way, and a dog just trying to find its family, who keeps finding bodies.
Paula is trying to get to work when she is stopped by a fellow tenant, who spends a lot of time body building, and a lot of time worried about the world, He tells her about another muder in their small town in New England, the second that seems creepier than usual. The first was a waitress no on like, but this one is important. A social media influences, found dead in the same mysterious way. And maybe found by a dog. Paula fixes the man's wifi and leaves, but with thoughts about the dog, one that might be familiar to her. Oona is the dog in question, looking for her carnival friends, but doing their best to survive while trying to get a scent of their missing owners. Oona has abilities far beyond other dogs, and Paula and Oona start to work together in finding out what is going on. For this town has a lot of secrets, and a lot of people trying to do right, try to get by, and try to get away with murder.
This is not a cozy, though it might sound like one. Actually it is hard to say what it is. Speculative fiction about this modern world, with a dog and a large cast of characters is a good place to start. The book drops the reader right in, with Paula and her discussion about what is going on, and does have a lot of different narrators sharing things, including the dog Oona. There is a lot going on. A large business doing odd things, weird bodybuilders, an a lot of discussion about social justice, even African myth. There is a bit of a learner's curve, but one figures out what is going on, pretty quickly. A quirky story that takes a bit, but in the end was interesting, and kind of fun.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
***Won from a Goodreads.com giveaway
This is a difficult book to get into. The characters, almost all of them, have a similar way of talking and speaking that is more stream of consciousness than anything else. It makes it difficult to differentiate the characters from each other except where you are told who they are and constantly told what makes them different. Then there is the back and forth through time from which day it is. Each chapter tells you whether it is today or yesterday. My fault was that I didn't see that the chapter was headed with that information until several chapters in. For some reason, my eyes glossed over it. Entirely my fault, not the book. The buildup was also very, very slow.
But, eventually, more than halfway through? (I think) it finally picked up the pace, and I started enjoying it more. I even shed a tear or two. But...I did still scan-read parts of it as the characters' thoughts ran in tangents and sometimes in repeats. This is an advanced reading copy, so some of those things might be tightened up here and there later on.
Overall, this book does what it claims; it is a murder mystery with a multiverse-hopping pooch leading the investigation. But it is also a story about friendships, relationships, climate change, and a helping of folklore that was new to me. So, though it started off slow and confusing, I'm still glad I stuck around to the end.
This is a difficult book to get into. The characters, almost all of them, have a similar way of talking and speaking that is more stream of consciousness than anything else. It makes it difficult to differentiate the characters from each other except where you are told who they are and constantly told what makes them different. Then there is the back and forth through time from which day it is. Each chapter tells you whether it is today or yesterday. My fault was that I didn't see that the chapter was headed with that information until several chapters in. For some reason, my eyes glossed over it. Entirely my fault, not the book. The buildup was also very, very slow.
But, eventually, more than halfway through? (I think) it finally picked up the pace, and I started enjoying it more. I even shed a tear or two. But...I did still scan-read parts of it as the characters' thoughts ran in tangents and sometimes in repeats. This is an advanced reading copy, so some of those things might be tightened up here and there later on.
Overall, this book does what it claims; it is a murder mystery with a multiverse-hopping pooch leading the investigation. But it is also a story about friendships, relationships, climate change, and a helping of folklore that was new to me. So, though it started off slow and confusing, I'm still glad I stuck around to the end.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This book was honestly a fever dream both in having no direction to the flow and the absolute inability to understand what point any scene is for in the overall story. If it was purely a murder Who-Done-It it would have had some legs to walk on, but the interdimensional factor absolutely derailed any ability to truly want to read to the end other than through pure force and stubborness. The characters are diverse, but honestly every single one had the IQ of a middle schooler and the attitude of a teenager which made it so I could not care about a single one of them. Their back-stories were so vague and never actually participated to their stance in the story which made me feel like i was missing a previous book i should have read first. I felt like I was watching a group of half-baked NPC characters in a cheap RPG with their the dialogue. I was really excited to read it when I read the summary, but was very disappointed once done.
Review of advance copy received from Author
“The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays” is luminous, strange, tender, and so profoundly alive. What stayed with me most was the tenderness underneath all the brilliance. Andrea Hairston writes with such generosity toward her characters, especially the ones the world has discarded or failed to see. Again and again, they turn out to be the ones carrying wisdom, resilience, humor, and grace.
At the center of the story is Oona, a spirited Saint Berdoodle, chasing down danger and gathering friends along the way. Every scene with Oona flooded my heart. I laughed, cried, and felt that particular ache that comes from witnessing innocence and devotion moving through a wounded world.
Like all of Hairston’s books, this one refuses cynicism. Even in the midst of violence, loss, and injustice, the story pulses with hope — not naïve hope, but hard-won, defiant hope. I finished the book feeling deeply moved.
At the center of the story is Oona, a spirited Saint Berdoodle, chasing down danger and gathering friends along the way. Every scene with Oona flooded my heart. I laughed, cried, and felt that particular ache that comes from witnessing innocence and devotion moving through a wounded world.
Like all of Hairston’s books, this one refuses cynicism. Even in the midst of violence, loss, and injustice, the story pulses with hope — not naïve hope, but hard-won, defiant hope. I finished the book feeling deeply moved.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A mysterious dog, Oona, who travels between dimensions helps a diverse cast of characters solve a murder. Problem is Oona knows who the murderer is and the murderer knows that Oona knows.
I wanted to like this, I tried really hard to like this but I found myself putting it down and days would pass before I reluctantly picked it up again. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I DNF a book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It moves slowly, and not in a good way. It jumps back and forth in time and between characters who are never fully developed and frankly are not particularly believable. The mentions of differing cultures and folklore should have made the characters more interesting but just seemed disjointed. Honestly the only character I really liked was the dog. I am sure there is an audience out there for this but unfortunately it is not me.
I wanted to like this, I tried really hard to like this but I found myself putting it down and days would pass before I reluctantly picked it up again. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I DNF a book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It moves slowly, and not in a good way. It jumps back and forth in time and between characters who are never fully developed and frankly are not particularly believable. The mentions of differing cultures and folklore should have made the characters more interesting but just seemed disjointed. Honestly the only character I really liked was the dog. I am sure there is an audience out there for this but unfortunately it is not me.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Ah books with dogs Are always such fun reading in this one we had Oona the St Berdoodle Who can jump dimensions all of her friends brought a little bit to the story that were a lot of fun it was pretty interesting how Oona’s owner didn't realize that she was a dimension hopper, and that she was a witness to this killing. I went into this one expecting a really cozy mystery but it ended up being more about a story of friends and family than anything else. This is one of those books where you do get the unique point of view of the animal which is always a nice treat.
Thank you to @torbooks for a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Thank you to @torbooks for a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
DNF at 30%.
The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays sounded interesting, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I struggled to stay engaged with both the story and the characters, and I kept finding my attention drifting while reading.
I’m also personally not a fan of books where animals “think” or are written with very human inner perspectives, so that part made it even harder for me to connect with the story.
The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays sounded interesting, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I struggled to stay engaged with both the story and the characters, and I kept finding my attention drifting while reading.
I’m also personally not a fan of books where animals “think” or are written with very human inner perspectives, so that part made it even harder for me to connect with the story.
Review of advance copy
If you two-star a book before there are even arcs of it I will five-star it, sorry-not-sorry.
April 16, 2026
I really like that we get a dog detective alongside Hairston's menagerie of weirdos, and it manages to blend what could be just a cozy murder mystery with larger questions of climate dystopia, justice, and community. yes, the POVs are definitely out there because our core mystery solvers are themselves out there (and in some cases, citizens of the multiverse), but they're still able to be followed by the reader. Thanks to Tor for the ARC, and highly recommend picking this up when it comes out in May!
May 13, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review to come.
Review to come.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I read a book every once in a while where I really don’t like the characters at first, and it’s hard to keep reading. Yes, this happened in this book. Not only that, the POV changed characters, and I got lost sometimes. I kept reading, and I did manage to keep up and like the characters better. I did enjoy this, but probably not as much as some people. It’s definitely an interesting book written differently than most, and if you like quirky murder mysteries, this is more than likely the book for you. 3 ½ rounded up to 4. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews