[6] In 2002, Abbott published her first book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, which The Paris Review described as "a prescient work of critical theory.

[8] Three years later, Abbott published Die a Little,[9] the first of several novels presenting woman-centered takes on traditional noir tropes.

[7] Set in midcentury Los Angeles, the story centered on Lora King, a schoolteacher whose brother Bill falls in love with Alice Steele, a former costumer for the film industry.

[9] In addition to literature, Abbott has written for major journals and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.

The Song Is You (2007) is based around the disappearance of Jean Spangler in 1949, and Bury Me Deep (2009) on the 1931 case of Winnie Ruth Judd, dubbed "the Trunk Murderess".