Undercurrents at Riffs

Neal and his friends believe Riffs is the hottest rock club in the Village. But it has a dark underbelly. Behind the scenes, a ring of hackers is running an ID fraud operation with an ominous twist—they're vampires.

The U-Boat Arc

The tale of a lost U-boat filled with art was one of the most delightful arcs of the White Collar TV series. Like many viewers, I was entranced in watching Neal and Peter work together to solve the mystery. But just at the moment of their greatest success, that partnership appeared to collapse when Peter believed Neal stole the salvaged treasure. Harlequin's Shadow is my humble attempt to provide a happier resolution to what happened in canon.

Neal the Buccaneer

I've long believed that Neal was destined to star in a pirate adventure. The canon references make it undeniable. Neal's got the part of a daring swashbuckler nailed, as exhibited by his Errol Flynn maneuver in the season 2 episode "Point Blank." His skill as a fencer was demonstrated in the season 3 episode "On Guard." Pirates are often depicted as charming rogues. That's Neal, all right. And, as if I needed more hooks, Peter called Neal Peter Pan in the season 1 episode "Bad Judgment. So, for all pirate-loving readers, I present Harlequin's Shadow. The team may call their operation the U-boat con, but Neal and his fellow buccaneers know that it's really a pirate tale.

Mind Games

White Collar is no stranger to board games. Mozzie uses Monopoly to plot strategy. He and June play high-stakes Candy Land. Although Neal is more a fan of chess, recently he and Sara adopted Clue as their strategy tool. He even briefly wonders if a game based on Bewitched wouldn't be more appropriate. But for the expert gamer, nothing beats the psychological games which are played without boards, and the game pieces are real people.