Goodreads asked Bill Fernandez:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Bill Fernandez After writing three books about the island history, I decided the most interesting way to describe the complex multi-ethnic society and Caucasian power structure in the early 20th century was in a novel. I enjoy reading murder mysteries. Since the early 1900s the islands were inundated with sugar and pineapple plantations and floods of immigrant labor brought in to work on them. It seemed a perfect brew for a murder mystery! I chose the year 1920 because it was the centennial of the arrival of the missionaries. Many revere their arrival but some resent how it led to the plantations that usurped Native Hawaiians from their land. The tension between the workers and planters was at a peak then; violent suppression even led to murders. I decided who would be more in conflict with his own identity (planter vs. Hawaiian) than a part-Hawaiian, son of a prominent leader in island society and politics? I enjoy novels based on historical events and used this technique to tell the story of the islands instead of just straight history. Enjoy!

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