Even murderers get homesick, but small towns have long memories. Once a sweetcorn-canning boomtown built by a busy railroad crossing, Yonders, Illinois, now stands as a proud but fading testament to the relentless march of time. Back in 1959, a gruesome triple homicide was committed, but the police investigation was obstructed when truth was overshadowed by convenience. Nearly 40 years later, Keelan Putnam, long suspected but never convicted of the murders, resurfaces in the town. Police Chief Buster Lawton, an unwavering beacon of justice, finds himself entangled in a maze of law, truth and redemption. Dive deep into this story where the heartland reveals tales of lost love, unsettled dilemmas, and ghosts that refuse to vanish. "This is part mystery novel, part literary fiction...Noyes pulls all the string of the plot together in the climactic chapter of the book, and it's both hair-raising and satisfying...The description is so detailed and atmospheric, it's almost as if the town itself is the central character. (Much like Savannah in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) ...I would recommend this book to anyone. Just don't start it before going to bed...you'll be up all night." — LISA REARDON, author of The Mercy Killers - "Original, deftly crafted, and an inherently fascinating read from start to finish, and all the more impressive when considering that it is his debut as a novelist. Yonders, Illinois showcases author Dennis Noyes' genuine flair for the kind of narrative driven storytelling that holds the reader's rapt attention throughout." — JIM COX, Midwest Review of Books - "In this complex but never superfluously convoluted drama, Noyes sensitively charts the killings' ramifications, which crescendo nearly 40 years later. At the heart of the story is the fragility of a person's destiny and the myriad ways in which a minor setback can snowball into a tragedy—a gripping idea unfurled by the author with considerable dramatic power." — Kirkus Reviews - "Touches of E Annie Proulx, a whiff of Kesey and maybe Faulkner, a garnish of Truman Capote, but mainly pure Dennis Noyes—telling a carefully wrought story with humour and compassion." — MICHAEL SCOTT, author of Wayne Rainey, His Own Story What led me to write Yonders, Illinois? At dusk on the evening of my return to my hometown for our fiftieth high school class reunion, I heard a southbound freight whistling out by the graveyard and heard it rattle through town, calling out for the five crossings I knew so well. Later I drove out to the cemetery and walked in moonlight among familiar names. The next day I wandered the town. Every street and every alleyway held memories. On Main Street many businesses were derelict, but as I passed the boarded-up pool hall, I could hear in my mind's ear the clacks and dings of the pinball machine and imagine who was running up a big score. After the reunion on my last day in town, I met an old friend for coffee at the diner on the highway. She told me an old story she said no one but her believed. It was as if we were back in the sixties whispering in the window booth about something awful that had just happened...a long time ago. At dawn, before I headed back up to Chicago to catch my flight home, I again heard a fast freight whistling through town and I thought: What if...? Dennis Noyes is a celebrated motorcycling journalist, ex-racer, and TV commentator, widely known in Spain for his work covering the MotoGP World Championship. Alongside his motorsports career, Noyes nurtured a lifelong passion for fiction writing, which culminated in the publication of his debut novel, Yonders, Illinois , in 2023.   Born in Oak Park, Illinois, and raised in a small town shaped by Midwestern and Appalachian cultures, Noyes developed an early love for storytelling. He won the Atlantic Monthly Annual Writing Contest in 1966 and attended the Bread Loaf Writers Conference on scholarship. His diverse experiences include working as a reporter in Venezuela, teaching English in Guatemala, and eventually spending five decades in Spain.   Having previously written popular nonfiction works in Spanish, Noyes is now crafting a new novel inspired by the rich vernacular, humor, and dark complexities of his Midwestern roots.