All Sales Final (short story)

Festival of Crime  “All Sales Final”

a short story by Douglas Dorow

[OptinLink id=1] [OptinLinkButton button_type=flat link_type=optinlink color=#1300ed border_radius=3 button_text=”Subscribe for email updates & FREE short story”] [/OptinLink]

Early in 2014, the Twin Cities Sisters In Crime group put out a call for short stories for an anthology they were putting together. The stories were to focus on mysteries and crimes that take place at one of the many summer festivals held throughout the Minnesota. I decided to give it a shot.

The story was to be 3,000 words or less. I thought this was going to be hard to tell a story in just 3,000 words since I hadn’t done it before. But I wanted to take on the challenge. Right away, I knew what festival I wanted to write about. Art In The Park is held every summer in Pelican Rapids, a small town 10 miles from my summer lake cabin and is a festival of Art, Food, Crafts and other things for sale. For a weekend every year in late July it takes over the town.

The main two characters in All Sales Final are sisters, Lois and Hilda, based on my dad’s sisters. I decided to pit them against a couple of “guys” (say it with a Chicago accent) who are combing the Midwest for deals, hoping they can take advantage of the naive and buy low and resell high.

That’s the story behind All Sales Final. I hope you like it. And if you find yourself in the Pelican Rapids area some summer, late July, stop in and see the world’s largest pelican and visit Art In The Park.

Publishers weekly had some kind words for my story. To learn more about the Minnesota and its many summer festivals, check out Festival of Crime. It is available as a paperback mid-Sept, 2014 and the ebook is supposed to come out late 2014 or early 2015.

Publishers Weekly
06/16/2014
Minnesota may be the land of 10,000 lakes, but based on the 19 tales in this middling Sisters in Crime anthology, the state is home to nearly as many festivals. Among the better stories is Barbara Merritt Deese’s “Release,” set at a mass release of raptors rehabilitated in captivity, during which an abused woman finds her own release. The Minnesota St. Paul International Film Festival stars in Mickie Turk’s chilling “Best of the Fest,” about a long-delayed reunion, while M.E. Bakos’s “Carpe Diem or Murder at the Carp Fest” depicts an obnoxious shoe store manager’s apt demise. The final entry, Douglas Dorow’s satisfying “All Sales Final,” involves two deceitful Chicago bargain hunters at the Pelican Rapid’s Art in the Park festival. This volume should attract strong regional interest, but in general the stories aren’t good enough to merit much attention outside the area. (Aug.)

For the entire paper back anthology, you can order it on Amazon Festival of Crime: The Twin Cities Sisters in Crime

[OptinLink id=1] Did you Subscribe for updates email & FREE short story download?  [/OptinLink]