Book excerpt: “But will it play in Peoria?” For years, the Midwest has been used as a stand-in for “average America”. The sweeping great plains, the heavy snows of winter, ice fishing and mighty rivers and frozen lakes. Midwesterners have a reputation for being the salt of the earth, friendly and kind and helpful and nice. But is “Midwestern nice” merely a cover for what really goes on in this part of the country? John Wayne Gacy, the bloody Benders, and Jeffrey Dahmer were all Midwesterners—but that doesn’t mean every Midwesterner has bodies buried in their basements…or does it? To celebrate Boucheron, the world’s largest mystery fan convention, coming to Minneapolis in 2022, editor Greg Herren is proud to present a series of tales that will shock and surprise you—and maybe make you think twice about that ice-fishing trip, or before taking a snowmobile out after the sun goes down. Featuring authors from all over the Midwest who know just how dark and lonesome it can get out there in the country at night, these crime stories will entertain you with their trip down the dark side of the “real America”—where the twilight’s last gleaming has an entirely different meaning and feel. Featuring some of the top, award-winning authors in the field today—from Mindy Mejia to Marcie R. Rendon to Michael Wiley, Susanna Calkins and Erica Ruth Neubauer, and Bryon Quertermous, Tessa Wegert, Raquel V. Reyes, and Richie Narvaez—doing some of their finest work to date. Collected and curated by award-winning editor Greg Herren, with stories ranging from light to darkly funny to just out-and-out macabre, Land of 10,000 Thrills is one of the strongest anthologies put together by the Bouchercon conference to date. These stories may not “play in Peoria”…but mystery fans everywhere will enjoy them.