Case Story

You may be looking for the Hardcastle & McCormick zine Casefiles.

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:	Casefile, case fic, detective story
Related:	Action-Adventure, Relationship Story, Get'em, Lay Story
See Also:	Virtual Season
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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In many television shows, particularly crime dramas, buddy cop shows, and some medical dramas such as House M.D., each episode revolves around the main characters being presented with a particular mystery or case, which they then investigate and bring to a conclusion. Case fic is a type of fanfiction that mirrors the format of the source text, featuring an 'A' plot that focuses on a case similar to the cases featured on the show, and usually a 'B' plot that deals with the characters' personal issues or interactions.

In general, case stories are similar in structure to the show they are based on. However, they may be radically different in tone, and often bring in elements or subplots that wouldn't be present in the show, such as explicit sex, slash, or, occasionally, supernatural occurrences. Case fic is often described as being "just like an episode of the show," or alternately, "just like an episode of the show, except with sex."

Terms like 'casefic' are often used to distinguish plottier stories from PWP or WAFF-y curtainfic. Examples of tropes that often occur in case stories (whether or not they would be likely in canon) include:

• Pretend Couples and characters going Undercover in a Gay Bar
• "murder" cases involving Presumed Dead characters
• characters going undercover as prostitutes
• supernatural crimes, often ones that involve vampires

Examples

• Torch's X-Files stories Ghosts and Lovers were case-driven stories that explored mysteries much like those dealt with on the show, with the addition of homoerotic themes and explicit m/m sex.

• This thread on ds_recfinders features many Due South case fics.

• list of stories on AO3 that use the casefic tag