Spider Webs — Margaret Millar

The motives and prejudices of twelve jurors are on full display in the case of a Carribean yacht capitain who has been accused of murdering a wealthy white client for her jewelry.

Twelve Santa Felicia County citizens have assembled for their civic duty: they will serve as jurors in the murder trial of Cully Paul King, the Caribbean private yacht captain accused of killing Madeline Pherson for her jewelry. The last time Madeline was seen before her kelp-wrapped body was fished out of the Pacific Ocean was aboard Cully's boat, Bewitched. 

But even more complicated than the circumstances surrounding Madeline's death are the motives of the people involved in the trial. Some people don't like that the white, married Madeline Pherson seems to have been having an affair with the handsome black ladies' man Cully. The courtroom staff and jurors react to Cully's charisma in wildly different ways. Cully's lawyer, Charles Donnelly, has inexplicably taken the case pro bono. Harry and Richie Arnold, the father and son who crewed for Cully, have vastly different opinions of the accused. Crotchety old Judge Hazeltine feels like he doesn't have control over his courtroom; for Oliver Owen, the racist district attorney, the case is black and white. Even if Cully is acquitted of the crime, will anything ever be able to heal the damage done during the trial?