In the sixth of seven films as the detective Frank Janek, Richard Crenna is at the top of his game dealing with a series of murders involving victims who for some reason have a flower glued to their corpse with their eyes painted shut with some kind of poisin glue. Initially getting help from psychiatrist Tyne Daly, he later makes her a suspect for reasons only suave viewers will be able to figure out. His god daughter has been murdered by the serial killer (running through the park late at night), so he has a personal stake in the case. Helen Shaver is another psychiatrist who has become personally involved with Crenna, and she suspects that the killer is a woman.
Usually Daly plays a very direct plain speaking woman, but her character has a very strange personality and speaks in a quick, direct blunt manner that seems like something tailor made for Kathy Bates in one of her darker roles, so she's very different in this, perhaps too smart for her own good. The viewer will be perplexed by this, but it's not the type of mystery that cares if the audience can guess who did it or not. This just has to be watched and experienced rather than analyzed. There are other suspects too, all women who had complicated relationships with their mother, so the writer plays on that to keep the viewer involved. Maybe not great, but intriguing.
Usually Daly plays a very direct plain speaking woman, but her character has a very strange personality and speaks in a quick, direct blunt manner that seems like something tailor made for Kathy Bates in one of her darker roles, so she's very different in this, perhaps too smart for her own good. The viewer will be perplexed by this, but it's not the type of mystery that cares if the audience can guess who did it or not. This just has to be watched and experienced rather than analyzed. There are other suspects too, all women who had complicated relationships with their mother, so the writer plays on that to keep the viewer involved. Maybe not great, but intriguing.