1992 Toyota Camry Plugs not firing

My friend has a 1992 Toyota Camry with about 114,000 miles, that she said would'nt start. I pulled all 4 plugs, laid them across the valve cover, and spun the engine over. The engine spun plenty fast enough, and had what seemed like good compression, but none of the 4 plugs were firing with a good ground. (I independantly grounded each plug). The rotor cap and button were in dismal condition, so I cleaned them up, an re-gapped the plugs, still no fire when spinning. The button, cap, wires and plugs were all replaced, with still no fire at any of the plugs.I called a service on line, he (in a middle eastern voice) says the next component is an "igniter". Hmmmmm.I called Autozone, and they concur, saying the $145 Igniter would be the culprit. Can anyone shed any light on this problem and advise what to do next? Consider myself a fairly good mechanic, just need direction.