I’ve been noticing a trend in movies: the inciting incident of the story is usually the murder of a female character. The more I thought about how many stories depend on a dead woman, the more disturbed I became. This story-starting device shows up over and over in pop culture, in films as diverse as Bambi, The Fugitive, Jaws, The Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and in every detective, police procedural, and true crime series, from Sherlock to Criminal Minds to 48 Hours. Cathy Ulrich has also noticed this trend, and she wrote a book about it. Ghosts of You is a collection of thirty-one flash pieces from her Murdered Ladies Series. Each piece focuses on the tragedy of a different murdered woman, distinguished by their roles as given in the titles which all follow the format: “Being the Murdered [Role].” Roles include wife, cheerleader, and taxidermist. Each piece begins with the declaration that “the thing about being the murdered [role] is you set the plot in motion.” Through this repetition, she calls attention to the murdered female cliché, uses it to build her collection, then turns it on its head, subverting murder mystery tropes and continue...