About Dana (D.A.) Wilkerson
Hi! I’m Dana, and I’m a romance and cozy mystery author. (Did you know I write both? No? Then check out my books from the other genre via the menu above.)
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a ravenous reader. As a kid, I was into classic children’s books like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women; mystery series such as the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden; and contemporary (80s) authors like Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Roald Dahl.
There was no such thing as “young adult” books when I was a teenager in the 90s, so I started reading romance from authors like LaVyrle Spencer and Nora Roberts, as well as mystery books from John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clark.
Though I’ve always preferred reading fiction over non-fiction, for nearly two decades I wrote non-fiction almost exclusively. I even co-wrote a couple of New York Times bestsellers: The Vow: The True Events That Inspired the Movie and Balancing It All (with Candace Cameron Bure).
I finally dove into writing fiction a few years ago and discovered I absolutely love it! In 2022 I wrote and published four books in my cozy mystery series, the Totally 80s Mysteries. In 2023 I’ll be publishing more books in that series as well as the first several books in my Throwback RomCom series.
Both book series are set in the 1980s (with the romcoms eventually going into the early-to-mid 90s). There’s even a connection between the two series! I love the 80s because that’s when I did the bulk of my growing up years, and I have fond memories of the music, movies, books, and even technology from those years.
The books are nostalgic for readers who lived in the 80s, but the 80s references aren’t over the top. Instead, the memories come more from the way we had to live life in those days with no cell phones or Internet. You often had no idea where your friends and family members were at any given time, and unless they were at home or work, you had no way to contact them or even find out where they were. Crime solving and the dating scene were completely different than they are today.
I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I’ve loved writing them! If you want to keep up with the latest news and releases, click here to sign up for one or both of my newsletters.
Oh, and if you want to know a little more about me, I live in Oklahoma (via Missouri, Kentucky, Colorado, and Tennessee), I enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephew, and I’m a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Oklahoma City Thunder.