Waxahachie author sets new fiction book series in Granbury

The right location is imperative in a story, as it sets the mood, impacts the characters and essentially, sets up the framework for the plot throughout the novel.

Waxahachie resident Anita Dickason is an author known for basing her books in local Texas towns, utilizing locations to create the ideal atmosphere for her stories. Recently, she chose Granbury as the setting for her newest release, “Deadly Keepsakes: A Tori Winters Mystery” — a mystery and suspense novel published on July 1.

“Deadly Keepsakes” is Dickason’s eighth novel and the first book in a planned trilogy. The story follows protagonist and nurse Tori Winters, who becomes a star witness in a murder trial and ends up becoming the killer's next target. Terrified and on the run, she finds herself in Granbury following a mysterious phone call about an inheritance.

“Granbury was absolutely perfect for the setting that I needed. I needed, number one, a town that was fairly close to the Dallas/Fort Worth area that would make the location of the house believable. I also needed a small-town atmosphere, and I also needed one where there was a lot of activities, things that I could incorporate into the book and pull in different events,” Dickason said. “I don't know that I could have written this novel if it hadn't been for Granbury. I would have probably ended up having to come up with an imaginary town, but Granbury was absolutely perfect. It has such a dynamic downtown area. It has that small-town vibe, that historic vibe too as far as the homes and its history. It just fit my book perfectly.”

Dickason is a retired Dallas police officer who served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, tactical officer and was the first female sniper on the Dallas SWAT Team. She uses her 22 years of law enforcement background to help write her stories, like her four Tracker novels involving a team of elite FBI agents.

Her first book, "JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy,” released in 2013, details her reconstruction of a 1966 vehicle accident near Midlothian that killed a key witness to President Kennedy’s assassination, Lee Bowers Jr. That first novel served as a catalyst for her writing career.

“I came across a website from the U.K. that ran a contest where every month you submitted a little short story about some picture that the individual would pose and I wrote a little short story about this picture, this doll that was standing in a decrepit old room with skulls and the walls are all broken apart,” she said. “I titled this little 500-word story, ‘Not Dead, Not Dead,’ and to my surprise I got third place in the contest — that was enough to get me going. I found out that I enjoyed writing a whole lot more than I did reconstructing accidents and here I am now, eight books later.”

Her 500-word short story also became a novel, “Not Dead,” that published in 2019 and is based in Meridian.

“All of my books either have a connection to Texas, or they're located in Texas,” she said. “I've had cops chasing the bad guys, east to west, north to south, so it's all Texas-based."

As for her next goals, Dickason plans to finish the Tori Winters Mystery series and continue with her Tracker novels.

“Deadly Keepsakes” and her other novels are now available to purchase at Arts & Letters Bookstore, 113 E. Bridge St. in Granbury, and on Amazon.

A book signing event for Dickason at Arts & Letters Bookstore will also take place at a later date.

For more information, visit her website at anitadickason.com, follow her Facebook page at Anita Dickason Author or follow her Twitter at Anita Dickason.