Fic Rec: The Case of the Dead Man's Secret

[swissmarg]

Title: The Case of the Dead Man's Secret
Author: the_arc5
Pairing: Holmes/Watson, Watson/Morstan, Holmes/Moriarty
Length: ca. 27,000 words
Rating: R
Warnings: Character death
Verse: ACD Books
Author's summary: After Holmes' death, Watson is faced with a case he must solve on his own, a case that threatens to destroy him and everything he holds dear.

Reccer's comments: The story starts out with this excerpt from someone's diary:

I know him because I have seen him in every attitude it is possible for a man to adopt, seen him and taken the visions to heart. I know the bright fervour of his gaze when he lights upon the trail of a new discovery. I know the smooth arc of his hands as they coax songs from an old violin, or carefully measure chemicals, or even, God help him, as they administer a draught of cocaine. I know him because we have shared so much together. Not one of the conversations we held, so close as to touch, has left my memory. I know his voice as I know my own. He would not fancy himself aristocratic, I think, even though others would dub him so. With a voice like his, anyone would know that my dear boy is a prince among men, if they knew nothing else. Thank heaven I do. I know so much more. I know the heat of his mouth and the curve of his spine. I know the hidden treasures of his naked body, and I have tasted the same. I never deserved such a gift, but he came to me all the same, and I have never ceased worshiping him, my joy, my life.

I know him, and thus, I love him.

It wasn't written by who you think it was. And that's where the brilliance begins. It's not the only surprise the author has in store, and while it all ends up where you expect it to, it certainly doesn't take the direct route getting there. A hiatus and return story, it retains elements of The Empty House but flips them around in a unique way for maximum dramatic effect.

There is heartbreak, character death (both real and imagined), shocking revelations, well-meaning gestures that end in disaster, unexpected open-mindedness, a very sympathetic Mary, and a hidden past at the root of everything that very nearly destroys it all.

I especially enjoyed the varied format, with diary entries and letters scattered throughout the narrative, and the Victorian flower code relating messages that are never quite understood until the end.