Dana Lyon. The Tentacles (1950) 235 pp.
Roger Trenton, a young San Francisco architect, and his new bride Hilda have set up a new home in Burlingame and are expecting their first child. In Monterey, Roger’s parents—his overbearing mother Teresa and his overindulgent father Gerald—live in a large seaside house. Compelled to visit on a weekly basis, Hilda and Teresa slowly come to understand and respect each other while Roger and his father spend their time on the golf course. After Teresa’s death, which immediately precedes the birth of Roger and Hilda’s son, Gerald and Roger decide—without consulting Hilda—that Roger should give up his job and move his family into the big Monterey house.  Hilda slowly begins to realize that Gerald has a deep hatred of all women and is turning Roger against her. As Hilda desperately tries to reclaim her husband and save her son from her father-in-law’s influence, she can see only one way to escape … murder.