[1][2][3] Her graduate studies inspired Abbott to begin to write the novel that would become Die a Little, as reading Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes, and James M. Cain encouraged her to enter "the world of these books from a different angle — not from an analytical perspective, but an imaginative one".
"[9] In Die a Little, Abbott intended there to be a pseudo-romantic relationship between siblings Lora and Bill – this overly close familial bond would appear again in her work in the 2011 novel The End of Everything.
[10] The novel received a B rating from Jennifer Reese of Entertainment Weekly, who commented that "this arty noir exercise has some wonderfully depraved twists, but Abbott never achieves the momentum and black poetry of the genre's masters, like the peerless James M.
[11] A review in The Village Voice praised Abbott for capturing the style and prose of the genre while turning her focus on women, a rare subject even amongst female pulp fiction writers.
[12] The voice to tell the story from a woman's perspective was similarly praised by The Guardian, and Laura Wilson mentioned specifically the accurate period setting and dialogue.