A reading and conversation celebrating the release of two unrelated works of fiction that combine mystery and humor (and dogs!) in unexpected and refreshing ways.

In Birdie Horne’s laugh-out-loud mystery Don’t Cross Mo Ellery (William Morrow), the titular character manages to get fired, dumped, and kicked out of their overpriced Chicago apartment, all on her 29th birthday. Luckily, a sign appears to guide her: “Looking for flexible part-time work? Become a school crossing guard!” It’s everything Mo has been looking for: health insurance! How hard can it be? Mo’s greatest nemesis on the streets is Poodle Dude, a guy with an SUV full of poodles who speeds through her intersection each morning… until the day he accidentally speeds into a sinkhole and dies. And now some of the neighbors are convinced that he was murdered. When a second local dies under mysterious circumstances, it’s going to take all of Mo’s broadly applicable and transferable skills to find the killer.

Andrea Hairston’s The Redemption Center Is Closed On Sundays is an extra- dimensional murder mystery with romance, adventure, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay.” Oona, a St. Berdoodle, can slip in and out of dimensions and has friends all over the map. Some of them are turning up dead. Oona finds a celebrity-musician friend in a recycling bin, murdered. Oona knows who the killer is. She’s after him and he’s after her. Cleaning lady Paula and her client, podcaster An’qwenique, might be falling in love, but they have to help Oona catch the killer first. And even the killer would like to know: What the heck is going on at the spooky Redemption Center? Black Ops? Witch and Ghost Jamboree? Alien Invasion?

Can’t make the event? Order Don’t Cross Mo Ellery and The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays, and we’ll get them signed for you.

About the Authors

Birdie Horne is the combined pen name of former enemies Eden Robins and MW Garguilo. Over the years, they have been love rivals, co-godmothers, and neighbors across an alley in Chicago. Separately, they have published over twenty books, and together they have a resumé full of the kinds of jobs that genuinely worry their parents. One of them was nominated for — and lost — Chicago Crossing Guard of the Year. Don’t Cross Mo Ellery is their first outing as Birdie Horne.

Andrea Hairston is a novelist, poet, playwright, and Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor Emerita of Theatre and Africana Studies at Smith College. She is the author of Mindscape, Archangels of Funk, Will Do Magic for Small Change, and Redwood and Wildfire, among others. She is a Carl Brandon Award winner and a finalist for the Philip K. Dick and Otherwise Awards, and was short-listed for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. Andrea bikes at night year-round, meeting bears, multi-legged creatures of light and breath, and the occasional shooting star.

_{Core support for the Department of Public Programs is provided by the WLS Spencer Foundation.}

_{Major support is generously provided by the national Leadership in Art Museums (LAM) initiative funded by the Alice L. Walton Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and Pilot House Philanthropy; the Feigenbaum Foundation; and the Ruth E. Proud Charitable Trust.}

_{Support is also provided by Anonymous (2); the Avangrid Foundation, in partnership with Berkshire Gas Company; the Robert Lehman Foundation; Berkshire Bank; Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; and MountainOne.}