tax scam in the Coachella Valley, as well as a murder-for-hire in Sacramento in which she nearly went to jail for refusing to reveal her sources.
Her award-winning thriller, Bakersfield Boys Club, was inspired by a series of Central Valley murders that became known as the Lords of Bakersfield cases. Da Vigo covered the trial in the first of the crimes, the stabbing death of a local businessman. A 13-year-old boy prostitute probably attended the all-male party where the murder occurred, but was never called to testify. The youth, along with other vulnerable boys, was used for sex by prominent men in Bakersfield including, she later learned, her boss at the newspaper where she worked. The young victim of sexual abuse was later arrested and convicted for murdering one of his abusers. The cases remained on Da Vigo’s mind for years before she finally sat down at the computer to write her thriller.
She is the author of two other mysteries, Thread of Gold, a three-generational story set in New York state’s Finger Lakes, and her current release, Night Flight, inspired by the bombing of United Flight 629 out of the Denver airport in 1955.
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