[1] Lee was working as a publicist in an office near Vancouver's Downtown Eastside during this time, and was constantly aware of the sex workers on the streets.

[2] When Lee sifted through "stacks of government research papers documenting teenage prostitution,"[2] she discovered that many of the sex-workers in that area were actually lured, tricked, or coerced into the profession.

While each of the stories in Nancy Lee's breakout novel are varied in subject matter, they are united by themes of eroticism, destruction, loss, and the recurring image of the missing and murdered women of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Lee has stated that this story is rooted in the Electra myth and observes the taboo subject of sexual tension between a father and daughter.

Jess receives a pair of hoop earrings from Charlie as a Valentine's Day instead of a locket, like she had asked for, and she pierces her ears in the upstairs washroom with ice and a sewing needle.

This story is told from the eyes of a mother who is desperate to find her missing sex worker daughter named Clare.

This desperation is heightened by the discovery of a serial killer, and a number of human remains in a retired dentist's backyard.

As a favour for her friend Janet, a drug-addicted nurse supervises a high-school dance-a-thon that aims to raise money for a drug awareness program.

Nancy Lee has stated that she conducted research on pharmaceutical addiction in the medical profession in order to inform the story, and that the drug-addicted nurse is an example of how people often spend their lives trying to hide something.

"[2] Dead Girls has received widespread acclaim from critics, with many citing its well-written prose and subtle examination of its subject matter being particularly strong characteristics.

In his review for The Guardian, Colin Greenland writes, "Graceful and wintry, Nancy Lee's stories describe with beautiful, desolate precision a society that is itself dismembered, riven by loss and hunger.

Robert Wiersema, in his review for Quill & Quire, praised Dead Girls for being "among the bravest fictional debuts in recent memory [heralding] the arrival of a bold and audacious new voice in Canadian writing.

In his 2004 article for Canadian Literature, Michael Trussler commented, "While I suspect that this correspondence between her fiction and actuality dismays her, in her collection I believe that Lee's readers will recognize the intricacy and compassion.

The short revolves around the theme of sex and money, stars Emily Tennant, Calum Worthy, and Anthony Shim, and was produced by Selena Paskalidis, Les Lukacs, Jhod Cardinal, and award-winning filmmaker and production company owner John Bolton.