The Sixth Act

by Mike Cleary

Duffy Hart lost his wife, Caitlin, to Covid in the fall of 2020. Because of the pandemic shutdown, he grieved alone. It was a tortuous year for the inconsolable widower. In late 2021, when the Covid cloud lifted enough to allow society and commerce to try and put itself together again, Duffy reopened their restaurant, Bar OSA in Berkeley. And that’s when his life was turned upside-down. Well-intentions friends were heavy-handed in trying to pair the millionaire bartender with their single chums. A greedy brother-in-law tried to benefit from Caitlin’s death. Then a crooked doctor and his scheming trophy wife came after him with a vengeance. The reason? A provoked Duffy had broken the bully’s nose forty years past and the doctor, never able to put it past him, was anxious to do him serious harm. As the restaurant was the social headquarters for the Midsummer Players’ theater group, Duffy learned their next production would be Macbeth with a dapper septuagenarian as the vile Scot. Little did Duffy know that he would star in the sixth act of this five act play. Oh, and let’s not forget an adorable lost dog, a molecular biologist beauty, a stolen diamond and a dominatrix each play a pivotal role.

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 12, 2022