The Return of the Don

Don Patrick is in love! The problem is, the rich, aging ex-Mafia crew boss is in love with Nora, his nephew, Ernie's, fiancée, and a girl young enough to be his granddaughter! Because the beautiful Nora is so warm and friendly to him, Don thinks that she's in love with him, too! Poor Ernie, is still a soldier toiling away for Hippy Fiore, who took over Don's crew, and is no longer of any use to his uncle. Don confides this to his best friend, a younger man, Dr. Bill Maltese. The doctor is shocked by his old friend's thinking, but rather than subject Don to the uncertainty of psychoanalysis, he comes up with his own scheme. He talks Nora into passing herself off as "Sophie," a fictitious half-sister of the doctor's who he tells Don has been raised in a convent and is madly in love with him and actually wants to marry him. Don immediately forgets about Nora and goes through with a sham wedding engineered by the doctor, only to find that just as soon as the ceremony is over, "Sophie" turns into a domineering shrew and a spendthrift. This is part of the doctor's plan to bring Don back to his senses. But just when it seems like the farce is working Don decides to prove himself to Sophie by buying a five-story green building and going into the antiques business. Despite his total ignorance of his trade, everything goes great! Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in Goose Creek, Alaska a giant grizzly bear devours an animal rights activist and his girlfriend. Sheriff Ajax Kincaid is unable to hunt the beast down because of pressure from the national media and PETA. Closer to home, WJIZ productions is desperately trying to replace the loss of its biggest customer. How do these seemingly unrelated events have anything to do with Don, Nora/Sophie and Ernie? Find out!
About the Author: John H. Rizzo, whose first novel, Augie, was published in 2012, is a veteran author and essayist. He is currently the chief staff writer for Amici Journal, an Italian-American Magazine. For over twenty-five years he has written comprehensively on opera and Italian culture. Many of his essays can be read on www.italianoperachicago.com, the official Internet organ of the Italian Opera Company of Chicago, a professional organization which he founded in 2001, and of which he is the artistic director. Mr. Rizzo has an extensive professional background in music and theater, and has appeared in several made-in-Chicago films. From 1998-2014 he was a faculty member at Oakton College in Des Plaines, Ill. where he taught Western Civilization and various classes on Music, Film and Theater. John H. Rizzo holds a Masters Degree in Theater from the University of Illinois and is the author and composer of several musicals for young people. He also made original translations of the choruses from the Agamemnon of Aeschylus for which he composed the music. In the summer he leads cultural tours of Greece and Italy. He resides in a suburb of Chicago with his wife, Jan, and two cats. CONTACT INFORMATION John H. Rizzo 7942 Barry Ave. Elmwood Park, IL 60707 E-mail: adesso@acepros.com Web site: www.johnhrizzo.com