Case Fic Rec Day

[221b-recs-mod.livejournal.com]

Time for this month's Rec Day! :D

The theme is "case fics"!

Make your recs today, on the 23rd. The comm will be open today to all posters for recs on the above theme!
Fic, art, and vids may be recced. All versions of Sherlock Holmes sources are eligible. No recent WIPs or RPF please, but you can rec things that have been recced before.

Please follow the recs guidelines. One rec per post, please, unless you're reccing a series, and tag your posts with at least the minimum tags required (verse, slash/gen/het genre, and pairing if relevent) plus "theme: case fic".

If you have any questions, please ask in comments to this post or in PM to a mod.

Fic Rec: Call For The Doctor

[tanpopo03.livejournal.com]

Title: Call for the Doctor
Author: rabidsamfan
Pairing: Gen
Length: ~22.000
Rating: PG13-ish
Warnings: -
Verse: Books
Author's summary: A drabble series. When Watson is called to help an accident victim he finds that the patient is Holmes -- and that the accident was no accident at all.
Reccer's comments: I'm really in awe of rabidsamfan for telling this whole story in the form of drabbles. It's packed full of suspense and I literally could not stop reading once I had started! Usually I'm rather a hurt!Watson fan, but this is the exception to the rule. Simply one of the best case fics I've come across, with perfect characterization and A+ writing. It also ties in really well with ACD canon.

ETA: Can also be read here on LJ! (But be careful not to spoil yourself, since the text is not under LJ cuts and the last entry is at the top of the page...)
ETA2: Aaand on AO3 here! Now go read! :)

Rigging screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Title:Rigging screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised
Author: AJ Hall
Pairing: Gen
Length: 15,250 words
Rating: Teen and Up
Warnings:
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: "How's a woman supposed to prove her husband's a murderer, dammit?"
On the eve of a planned voyage to Brittany, Marjorie Jameson starts her day with no problems more pressing than forcing a boatyard to do an emergency repair to the family yacht. A chance encounter at the Cowes hi-speed ferry terminal begins to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder, with her charming, untrustworthy husband Julian right at the centre and Marjorie as the next intended victim.
But no-one's going to trust the word of an aging housewife whose complaints of abuse the police have previously dismissed as delusions.
Reccer's comments: AJ Hall writes some of the best casefic I've seen in the BBC 'verse, and this story reads like something you'd pay money for. We see the mystery (and Sherlock) mostly from the point of view of Marjorie Jameson, although there is one delicious interchange at Baker Street between John and Sherlock as well. It isn't so much of a "whodunnit?" as it is a "how do you prove it?" but the tension is perfect and even the minor characters are deftly drawn.

Nearer, My God, To Thee

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Title:Nearer, My God, To Thee
Author: Pargoletta
Pairing: Gen
Length: 20,000
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings:
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: London is hit with a deadly flu epidemic, but John slowly begins to suspect that there is a more human agency at work. He, Sherlock, and Sarah must work together in order to identify and track down a ruthless killer.
Reccer's comments: For once, when Lestrade comes to Baker Street, it's John's expertise he wants, and that's the beginning of a murder mystery that very nearly costs Sherlock his life. (And the passage where he's first coming awake in the hospital is worth the price of admission alone!) I love the characterizations of John, Sarah, and Sherlock in this, and I found the murderer and the method quite chilling. When I read it it was being posted in pieces, but you lucky readers will be able to dive right through.

Fic Rec: The Cornish Horror, by Finangler

[mariska-lee.livejournal.com]

Title: The Cornish Horror, or How John Watson Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Sherlock Holmes

Author: finangler

Pairing: Sherlock/John

Length: 34.5K words

Rating: M

Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: Sherlock Holmes had never really been in the “helping people” business in the first place.

Reccer's comments: I love case fic.  More than that, I love a fic that draws me in with its mystery, characters, relationships.  Give me a fic that makes me feel the setting and atmosphere as if I were there - a village by the sea, creaky floors in an old house, that occasional eerie sense of being watched.  

When it's done well I can lose myself for hours in the story, and look up to find that I've been so involved in the tale that I can't immediately remember what day (or even what time of year) I'm really in.  That's this fic.  Finangler uses certain events from TGG as a springboard for a retelling of ACD's "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" woven into the modern Sherlock BBC world.  It's an outstanding read.

The Cornish Horror,  On LJ or On AO3, by finangler

And because this was originally written for the sherlock bigbang, there is artwork - in this case, awesome artwork by daunt.

Art by dauntdraws  Art On LJ

The Covenant and the Oath

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Title:The Covenant and the Oath
Author: Pompey in collaboration with KCS
Pairing: Gen
Length: 63,750 words
Rating: T
Warnings:
Verse: Books
Author's summary: An elderly doctor from Watson's past asks Holmes to investigate the disturbing harassment of former army doctors.
Reccer's comments: This is technically a sequel to Pompey's brilliant look at Watson's life in the aftermath of Maiwand but you don't need to read the first story to like this one. (Although it wouldn't hurt.) All you really need to know is that Dr. Ives was the one who saw Watson through the enteric fever and his recovery and still takes an interest in his former patient. The mystery is set after the Great Hiatus, and begins with Holmes acting oddly, setting the Irregulars to watch over Watson, and absorbed in some mystery that he isn't sharing. When Dr. Ives turns up at the door expecting Watson to know more than he does it isn't just the mystery that will need solving -- it's how Watson will take this new evidence of Holmes's lack of trust in him. Pompey writes excellent pastiches -- Watson's voice is right throughout, and the mystery and danger are exciting. A good read.

Fic Rec: The Adventure of the Buttoned Glove

[tanpopo03.livejournal.com]

Title: The Adventure of the Buttoned Glove
Author: pen_and_umbra
Pairing: Holmes/Watson
Length: ~20.000
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: -
Verse: Books
Author's summary: Summary: Holmes is called in to aid in the investigations of a high society kidnapping, to some startling consequences.
Reccer's comments: This is one of those gems that could have been written by ACD himself - if he wrote slash that is... Well, overt slash ;). The case that Holmes and Watson work on is cleverly intertwined with their suppressed feelings for each other, making this as much a love story as a case fic. Definitely worth (re-)reading!

Turnabout’s Fair Play

[ningen-demonai.livejournal.com]

Title: Turnabout’s Fair Play
Author: jumperfkr
Pairing: Mostly gen, squint-y Sherlock x John at best (or as the author says "Holmes/Watson friendshippy/squint/pre-slash/IDK")
Length: 6,400
Rating: PG
Warnings: None, other than the "expected amount of murder and misdeeds"
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: A holiday to Cornwall turns into a test of Watson's John’s patience.

Reccer's comments: If it's not obvious after reading the summary (which it wasn't to me as I'd yet to read the original story), this fic's a reworking of an ACD story. What I like about this is that I can pretty much see this happening in the series' future, when Sherlock and John are more comfortable and used to each other. Yeah, this is a case fic, but it's almost like a domestic scene. John's being longsuffering and resigned to Sherlock's dramatics and Sherlock's being stubborn and bossy even in sickness. God, I adore them.

( Snippet goes here )