Fic Rec: Art in the Blood, by rachelindeed

[phoenixfalls.livejournal.com]

Title: Art in the Blood AO3|LJ
Author: rachelindeed
Pairing: Gen
Length: 4,741 words
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: None
Verse: Murder by Decree
Author's summary: After the events of Murder by Decree, Mycroft Holmes leaves the British government and tries to decide what to do with the rest of his life.
Reccer's comments:
This is, quite simply, an incredible Mycroft fic. I don’t know the movie it’s based on, but rachelindeed has helpfully included a (spoilery) summary in the notes at the beginning of the fic, and the fic is entirely comprehensible with just that information. It’s a fantastic exploration of Mycroft’s character, less Machiavellian than he is often portrayed but still very much the brilliant man whose “specialism is omniscience.” He starts the fic at a crossroads, wondering where to take his life next, and where he takes it is a delightful surprise. There’s a nod to larger Holmesiana that I won’t spoil but which made me burst into laughter; there are so many quiet, touching character moments, for Mycroft himself and for the Holmes brothers and for Sherlock & Watson; and the ending of the fic is deeply moving. It’s a fic that just grows and grows as you read it, developing layers and shades of meaning and building to a resolution that brought tears to my eyes.