Show Business Kills (48 page)

They stood by the bed for a long, silent time.

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t get a face-lift?” Marly asked Jan. “How in the hell would you have explained that to St. Peter?”

Ellen shook her head and both she and Rose smiled at the black humor that had carried them through everything.

“Janny,” Rose said softly, “make sure to find Allan and tell him how much I miss him, and love him and dream about him all
the time.” Her eyes stung with tears.

Marly leaned in and put her arms around the blanket to hug Jan’s body. “Janny O’Malley, we love you so. And there will never
be a Girls’ Night that isn’t dedicated to your memory,” she said. “We’re so grateful for the years we had you with us.”

They stayed by the bed talking to her and one another for nearly an hour, often erupting with sentimental laughter. But soon
the room got very quiet when they knew that the time had come, and that Jan’s beautiful spirit was gone. And just before they
left the room, Marly stopped them and turned back for one last thought. “I think I can safely speak for all of us, Janny,
when I say to you, wherever you are, thanks a million, Maximilian.”

“EVERYONE WHO LAUGHED AND CRIED WITH
BEACHES
WILL LOVE
SHOW BUSINESS KILLS
EVEN MORE. I ADORE THIS BOOK.”

—Bette Midler

S
oap opera star
Jan
is nearing fifty and considering a face-lift.
Ellen
fought her way to the top of a Hollywood studio only to face menopause jokes from her male colleagues.
Rose
, a screenwriter, is finding it tough to pitch stories to executives young enough to be her kids. And
Marly
, whose bikini-clad figure once adorned commercials, now appears on TV proclaiming “My doctor told me…Mylanta.” They’re four
friends whose drug of choice is estrogen—and who are struggling to make it in youth-conscious Hollywood where forty-something
women get squeezed out. Here their tradition of a “Girls’ Night” allows them to keep their sanity. But when a stalker strikes,
they’ll need “Girls’ Night“—and all their time-acquired wisdom—to keep them alive…

From Iris Rainer Dart, acclaimed author of
Beaches, SHOW BUSINESS KILLS
is rich in feelings and hilariously funny—a story for everyone who dreams in Technicolor and believes in the power of friends.

“A RISKY, BRAVE, AND WITTY STORY OF THE

DARK SIDE OF THE HOLLYWOOD DREAM.

WONDERFULLY WRITTEN AND UNFORGETTABLE.”

—Pat Conroy, author of
The Prince of Tides