Sherlock Holmes/Fanfic Recs

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Proof that the remaining 10% is worth dying for here:

These are recommendations made by Tropers for Sherlock Holmes Fan Fics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.

Do warn for content that is usually considered squicky or explicit. Also AU fanfics, shipping (which is, after all, Serious Business), and/or more exotic things if considered appropriate.

You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page.


Authors and Websites

Katie Forsythe

  • Recommended by Polaris, bregalad
  • Comments: For all your Holmes/Watson shipping needs. Katie's fics are long, plotty, incredibly detailed and emotionally resonant. She has an excellent knowledge of the canon and the period; several stories deal with canonical incidents - and how they may have occurred differently than Watson chose to record them - and historical events (Full of Grace deals with Oscar Wilde's imprisonment; The Presbury Letters with World War I). My personal favorite is The Three Favors, which deals with Holmes' return to London after Reichenbach.


Sacrilege!

  • Recommended by Nemui10pm
  • Comments: This is also a Holmes/Watson website. It's an old website that was created well before the recent adaptations that boosted the popularity of this pairing, but it's still updated once in a while. The stories, both the ones by the site's owner Miss Roylott and those by other authors, are well-written and enjoyable, with delightful references to the canon.

Wordybirdy

  • Recommended by Lady Nomad
  • Comments: Wordybirdy writes the funniest Sherlock Holmes that could be felt like it was canon. She researches Victorian England well and incorporates it into her fics. She writers Holmes/Watson as a couple and as really good friends.

General Fics

Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman (AU, Crossover with Cthulhu Mythos. Available to read online here.)

  • Recommended by Count Choculitis
  • Synopsis: The Great Detective and his new flatmate investigate the murder of a member of the royal family.
  • Comments: I just really love this clever twist on the plot of the first Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet. It's set in an alternate universe Victorian London where Lovecraftian monsters rule the earth, and... well, you should probably just read it. Beautifully written, subtle, and creepy.

Edward Meets Sherlock Holmes by Sherlock Carr

  • Recommended by Novatel
  • Synopsis:Why did Edward stop hunting criminals? During those brief ten years, he was just like a superhero...So why? Because he met someone. A man named Sherlock Holmes.
  • Comments: Crossover with Twilight of all things, and still manages to be great. Sherlock Holmes uses his intelligence to fight Edward Cullen, a vampire.

Sub Rosa by Professor Pangaea

  • Recommended by Polaris
  • Synopsis: "One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve. The truly beautiful and noble puts its lover, as it were, at an infinite distance, while it attends him more strongly than ever."—Henry David Thoreau
  • Comments: This is a wonderful multimedia fic, consisting largely of telegrams exchanged between Holmes and Mycroft during the former's time in hiding after "The Final Problem."

A Study in Rum by Nytd

  • Recommended by Belphegor
  • Synopsis: One wicked and clever pirate. One singular and brilliant detective. One hundred and fifty years apart. An impossible meeting? Perhaps just improbable... Crossover with Pirates of the Caribbean.
  • Comments: Nytd is first and foremost a Pirates of the Caribbean fanfiction writer, but although this is a crossover, it remains a Holmes story throughout, with Doctor Watson as the narrator from beginning to end. It's fascinating, quite gripping and often funny, and the author has the 'voice' and feel of her characters down pat - no-one is forgotten. A definite must-read.

Jottings from a Doctors Journal By charleygirl.

  • Recommended by Ancient Nonun.
  • Type: Friendship
  • Status: Ongoing-35 chapters.
  • Synopsis: This are the alternate annotations of the Dr. John Watson, those who had not place in the adventures of the First and Only Private Detective of the World Sherlock Holmes, telling those everyday occurrences, mishaps and the insight of such an analytical mind.


The Fall at Reichenbach Revisited By rabidsamfan.

  • Recommended by millernumber1.
  • Type: Friendship, AU, shipping
  • Status: complete, one-shot
  • Synopsis: An AU look at what might have happened in Switzerland, from the prompt "What if Mary Watson didn't die during the Hiatus?"
  • Comments: Incredibly dramatic, well written, and one of the few Watson/Mary shipping fics that doesn't go for the angst of the seemingly canon death of Watson's wife during the Hiatus. Deserves many, many reviews (and possibly encouragements for a follow up!).
  • Pairing: Watson/Mary

Misery by Ancalime8301

  • Recommended by Lady Nomad
  • Type: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
  • Status: complete, one-shot
  • Synopsis: Holmes hits a rough patch just after Watson's wedding. Warnings: drug abuse, withdrawal.
  • Comments: It is a dramatic, nice fic that has everyone in character and even have a few elements from the literature. While it is angsty, there are a few light moments that help balance it out with some nice Holmes and Watson banter and a few lovely friendship moments between Holmes and Mary.
  • Pairing: Watson/Mary

Power of the Pen by The Fool's Hope

  • Recommended by Mockingjay
  • Type: Humor/Drama
  • Status: Complete
  • Synopsis: A compilation of letters and other things written by various people after Sherlock Holmes' death.
  • Comments: Contains the perfect balance of comedy and drama as the lives of Holmes' friends are detailed via telegrams, letters and other pieces of writing during the Hiatus.
  • Pairing: Watson/Mary

Shipping Fics

Stories focused on the romantic relationships between the cast.

The Baker Street Record by Featherfish (Crossover with House of Leaves. Contains slash, explicit sex.)

  • Recommended by Count Choculitis
  • Pairing: Holmes/Watson
  • Synopsis: Described by the author as an exercise in dual pastiche, this crossover begins with Holmes and Watson discovering a door in their house were there wasn't one before. Holmes starts going mad trying to wrap his mind around it. Where does it lead? Is there something inside it? And then It Gets Worse. It should be noted that this is really not primarily a ship fic, but it contains Holmes/Watson slashiness and one scene of explicit sex.


Confessions of the Master. Recommended by Regina Titania

  • Possibly the longest Holmes/Watson slash fic on FF.Net, this 214k+ monster is still WIP and comes pretty well recommended. It tells a dark story of love between Holmes and Watson, especially in the face of Victorian society and Watson's parental responsibilities, along with several more hypotheses regarding their backgrounds.

A Journey to the Core by Nunewesen

  • Recommended by Eona
  • Pairing: Watson/Holmes
  • Synopsis: Dr. Watson is finding himself unusually uncomfortable in his friendship with Sherlock Holmes. He decides to take a break to clear his mind, but finding the source of his uneasiness seems to be making things even more difficult...

Homo Ex Machina by Toft

  • Recommended by Jesaja
  • Pairing: Watson/Holmes
  • Synopsis: Watson accidentally publishes a pornographic novella featuring himself and Holmes, and is blackmailed into making it a serial.
  • Comments: Well-written and enjoyable.
  • Tags: Crack, UST, lemon.