one-hit wonder (47 page)

1999 Sep 0, 19, 19 12th, Bee writes letter to Ana

?

9

Lol meets Keith

Bee goes on holiday to India with

26

Jan

Ed

Pro

Bee moves into Baker St. flat

34

25th Tue, Bee sees Ed and Tina with

their new babies

9, 34

26th Wed, Bee asks Lol to take care

of John

July

9, 34

28th Fri, Lol tells Bee John is

missing

34

Zander’s Birthday

15, 39

Bee takes pills

3, 9

1st Tue, Bee’s body is discovered

2000

1, 4

17th Thu, Ana arrives to clean out

Bee’s Baker St. flat

8

18th Fri, Ana meets Lol

11

19th Sat, Ana moves in with Gill

Aug

15

20th Sun, Trip to Broadstairs

21

21st Mon, Meeting with Ed

32

22nd Tue, Night out in London with

Flint

34

23rd Wed, Trip to High Cedars

41

25th Fri, Trip to Devon to visit Gay

Sep

42

2nd Sat, Bee’s memorial service

About
one-hit wonder

When the hottest pop star of the flashy ’80s disappears from the scene, she’s dismissed as another one-hit wonder—until her body is found in her half-furnished London flat, leaving more unanswered questions than clues. . . .

Her bestselling debut,
Ralph’s Party
, was called “astute and engagingly hip” by
The Baltimore Sun
; about her second novel, the
London Times
said “
thirtynothing
will keep you up all night in a sweaty, addicted reading frenzy.” Now Lisa Jewell is back on the scene with her funniest novel yet.
One-Hit
Wonder
takes you into the thrill-a-minute life of a disco diva—and the dreary life of her mousy younger sister.

Shy and gawky, Ana Wills has always daydreamed about living the life of her exotic half-sister, Bee Bearhorn, a pop singer who had a #1 hit single before she inexplicably vanished from the celebrity scene. She gets her chance when Bee turns up dead, and Ana is dispatched to the big city to clear out the apartment of her once-beloved sister. Instantly seduced by the secondhand glamour of Bee’s baubles, bangles, and bottles of champagne, Ana takes up with Bee’s wild club-hopping cronies, along with her sexy chauffeur. But news of visits to a remote country cottage and an elusive ex-boyfriend soon prove Bee was leading a secret life. Now

Ana is on a mission to discover the truth about Bee Bearhorn, the one-hit wonder—and in the process finds herself, and her future.

An irresistibly entertaining tale of a woman who takes control of her life by temporarily taking on someone else’s,
One-Hit Wonder
is this acclaimed author at her witty and captivating best.

Lisa Jewell is the bestselling author of
Ralph’s Party
and
thirtynothing
. She lives in London with her husband and their cat.

Visit www.lisajewell.com

Cover design by Melissa Jacoby

Cover photograph by Stockbyte

Author photograph by Stephen Simpson/FPG

DUTTON

A member of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Copyright

DUTTON

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Originally published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd.

First American Printing, June 2002

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright © Lisa Jewell, 2001

All rights reserved

Extract from Kingsley Amis’s letter to Philip Larkin © 2000

The Estate of Kingsley Amis and HarperCollins Publishers PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-

PUBLICATION DATA

Jewell, Lisa.

One-hit wonder / Lisa Jewell.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-525-94653-5 (acid-free paper)

1. Impostors and imposture—Fiction. 2. London (England)—

Fiction. 3. Sisters—Death—Fiction. 4. Women singers—

Fiction. 5. Young women—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6060.E95 O64 2002

823’.914—dc21 2001054328

Printed in the United States of America

Set in Sabon

Designed by Leonard Telesca

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

v1.0 November 2004; scripter

scan, conversion, proofing