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Plot
In San Francisco, a blonde woman ties a retired rock star, Johnny Boz, to a bed with a silk scarf during sex, then stabs him to death with an ice pick. Detective Nick Curran and his partner, Gus Moran, investigate the murder. The prime suspect is Boz's girlfriend, the crime novelist Catherine Tramell, whose novel mirrors the crime.
Catherine is uncooperative and taunts the investigators by smoking and exposing herself. Although she is released, Nick discovers that she has a history of befriending murderers. This includes Roxy Hardy, Catherine's girlfriend, who killed her two younger brothers at the age of 16, and Hazel Dobkins, who killed her husband and children.
Nick, who accidentally shot two tourists while high on cocaine during an undercover assignment, attends counseling sessions with the police psychologist Dr. Beth Garner. The two have an on-and-off affair. Nick discovers that Catherine is using him as the basis for the protagonist of her latest book, in which his character is murdered after falling for the wrong woman. Suspicious that she has bribed lieutenant Marty Nilsen for his psychiatric file, Nick assaults Nilsen in his office. Nilsen is found murdered, and Nick is suspected and placed on leave.
Nick sees Catherine snorting cocaine with Roxy at Boz's club. At Catherine's home, she ties him to her bed with a silk scarf during sex while Roxy watches. Moran is angry that Nick has begun a relationship with Catherine, and uncovers evidence that Nilsen was paid fifty thousand dollars three months earlier, before Nick and Catherine met.
Jealous of Nick, Roxy tries to run him over with Catherine's car but crashes and dies. Upset, Catherine confesses to Nick about a college encounter with a girl that ended badly when the girl became obsessed with her. Nick identifies that girl as Beth, who claims that it was Catherine who was obsessed. When Nick visits Berkeley, he discovers that Catherine's report against Beth was withdrawn by Nilsen a year earlier; that a college professor of Catherine and Beth's was killed with an ice pick in an unsolved homicide that inspired one of Catherine's early novels; and that discovers Nilsen had investigated the unsolved murder of Beth's former husband and that Beth's lesbian lover may have been involved.
Nick discovers the final pages of Catherine's book, in which the detective finds his partner's body in an elevator. Catherine ends their affair, leaving Nick upset and suspicious. He meets Moran, who has arranged to meet Catherine's college roommate in Oakland to learn about Catherine and Beth. Nick discovers Moran stabbed to death with an ice pick in the elevator, as in the novel. Beth arrives and claims that she received a message to meet Moran. Nick suspects Beth of killing Moran and shoots her when he believes she is reaching for a gun, but finds she is unarmed.
Evidence implicates Beth in the murders of Boz, Nilsen, Moran, and her husband. The investigators find extensive photos and newspaper clippings of Catherine. Nick is confused and dejected. Catherine meets him at his apartment and explains her reluctance to commit to him due to her loved ones dying. They have sex and discuss their future. Unseen by Nick, an ice pick lies under Catherine's bed.
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