Do not be fooled: Bolin devotes little space in her meandering essay collection to its titular dead girls and analysis of the media’s preoccupation with them. Instead, she wanders through erudite but unfocused meditations on her life, Los Angeles, and Joan Didion, pausing along the way to discuss books ranging from Toni Morrison to Scandinavian crime novels. Not bad, but not what it says on the tin.