One Big Itch

By Sara Williams

Book Overview

One Big Itch is set in Honolulu, a playful city that is also haunted, as John Spyer P.I. well knows. Too bad Spyer is a hapa haole (ha-pa how-lee), a half white, and so pays only half attention when Madam Pele herself warns him off the Randolph Haverhill case.

No decent Hawaiian ever says no to and old friend, which makes Spyer the quintessential soft-boiled P.I. Spyer investigates the death of his childhood pal Randy Haverhill, opening his own psychic wounds in the process. Trouble is, Randy, now a celebrity scholar, became too popular with the ladies for his own good. It appears that one of Randy's crazed lovers shot Randy on his own doorstep.

So why do the police persist in the notion that Randy was murdered by his own son?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CL8GHTPC
• ISBN13: 9798891140035
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Mainspring Books
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

great read; great gift

I found Sara Williams latest book to be a true page turner. The characters are definitely a motley crew adding to the richness of the story. This intriguing novel is written with knowledge of the Hawaiian culture and is so skillfully descriptive, the plumeria seems to be wafting from the pages. Because of the innovative magazine-styled format, One Big Itch fits easily in your carry on bag. It also makes a great Aloha gift!

Big Unfolding Mystery

Sara Williams brings her detective hero John Spyer back for a friend. You know that saying that we hate it when our friends succeed? Williams doesn't come right out and say it in One Big Itch, but, oh, man, she sure could have and I think we all would have nodded right along with poor ol' John Spyer. The guy ends up in Hawaii (which ain't half bad, yeah?) in response to a note from a friend's new wife. The new wife? Filthy rich and from a fabulous pedigree, of course. The friend? Randolph Haverhill is celebrating a new book's release and the opening of an economic institute he's instrumental in building. Criminy, it makes a person feel small. Of course the fabulous hook is that there's someone stalking the Haverhill family. What the reader learns through a twisty-turny mystery full of characters and carefully revealed bits of info is that there are many members to the Haverhill family. So the question is not just who's doing the stalking, but also who's being stalked. And then Randy Haverhill ends up extremely dead and we suddenly feel bad for hating it when our friends succeed. Luckily, Spyer comes through with the help of some friends and good old fashioned clue-gathering. Williams does a fabulous job of leading the reader and making us worry for the safety and care of her characters. A satisfying ending is tempered with reality, giving the reader a sense of truth and readiness for the next installment in Detective Spyer's case load. From Fantasy Author Sandy Lender

A page turner

This book satisfied my definition of a good summer read. The plot was complex enough to keep me wondering who did it. The characters keep developing down to the last page and the descriptive narrative of Hawaii's terrain and cultural history gave me reason to escape. This book was a page turner down to the last twist. The magazine format really was easier to read and fit in my suitcase beautifully. This was a fun read!

The context of Hawaiian culture makes this book great

To me, the most interesting aspect of this murder mystery is not the mystery or the considerable sexual exploits of some of the characters. It is the context of Hawaiian culture, which includes words from the language. This is even represented in the title, for in Hawaiian, an "itch" means sex. There are also many references to the history and geography of the island chain. Despite his English or haole name, the title character of John Spyer has significant Hawaiian ancestry. When Spyer's childhood friend and now renowned economics professor Randy Haverhill is gunned down in the door of his house in front of his son, Spyer decides to investigate. Spyer is not one of the toughest of detectives, so he does not go around roughing people up or waving a gun. Spyer is a former DEA agent with a bad back that regularly reminds him of that fact. Haverhill received two blasts from a shotgun, the first to the groin, which suggests someone with intimate knowledge of the area. After the fatal shots, a knife was used to append a note to Haverhill's back. The investigation reveals that Haverhill has a deserved reputation as a professor with his hands and genitals over and in any female student that will tolerate it. Haverhill's first wife (Eva) was much older than him and is a suspect, and her story is one that rivals Haverhill's in terms of sexual exploits. In a point of dark humor, Eva blames Haverhill for her advanced case of esophageal cancer, which makes an excellently understated point of sexual innuendo. Haverhill's son Toby was with him when he was killed and the investigating police detective, a friend of Spyer's, has Toby arrested for the murder. All of this puts Spyer in trouble up to and over his okole, as it is clear that there are many potential suspects but little that can be used to suspect them. Add in some additional sex, a deep love for a vintage Ford Mustang and points of Hawaiin culture, including the physical attributes of the women and this is a novel where the detecting is average but the context is superb.

Good Innovative Size

One Big Itch: A John Spyer Mystery by Sara Williams is a mystery novel set in Honolulu, featuring the detective John Spyer, a native hapa-haole or mixed race, who is haunted by the ghost of Madame Pele, the goddess of the volcano. I found the liberal sprinkling of Hawaiian words throughout the text to be difficult at first, then it led to the authenticity of the story, which incorporates a lot of Hawaiian history and lore. The characters, some with seedy lives, are lively and convincing and the plot thickens all the way to the end. It is a read that is hard to put down and perfect for an Island trip. However, much of the murder plot makes references to the seedy, illicit sexual life of the hidden side of Hawaii. The perversions are not described, but frequently referred to and become important to the plot. The author keeps you reading, and I liked the new magazine type format, which is easy to hold on a plane or in bed and light to pack