Lion's Lair: Clueless in Arkham

Readers of my Caffrey Conversation stories know that there is a romantic subplot revolving around New York Neal and Sara. Diana Berrigan, who writes the Arkham Files stories, is being given suggestions by secret matchmakers Elizabeth, Henry, and June. They hope Arkham Neal and Sara's relationship will nudge their New York counterparts in Cupid's direction. Sara and Neal are well aware of the conspiracy. In response, they've hatched their own scheme, the Clueless con, to keep their dates a secret. They're not shy about offering their own ideas for the stories.

Neal's Support System

When I started writing the Caffrey Conversation series, I wanted Neal to feel less alone than he did in White Collar canon. I set out to give him stronger relationships with his coworkers, and to show him as part of a family.

Messages to Azathoth: The Lion and The Serpent

Diana had dreamed up the idea of writing Arkham Files as a way to help keep Peter and Neal safe. An unidentified criminal was known to be stalking them. Their foe had demonstrated a fascination with the world of horror- writer H.P. Lovecraft, causing Mozzie to give him the nickname of Azathoth. Diana reasoned that provoking him with stories featuring members of the White Collar team could lead to his eventual unmasking. The profiler on the case, Tricia Wiese, saw an additional benefit. She hoped to manipulate the plots to make Azathoth experience reverse Stockholm syndrome, where the criminal develops feelings of empathy toward his captives.

Library Acquisition: The Red Chamber

The Red Chamber is the second story in Tales from the Library, a series based on The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. In the previous story, A Scandal in Montmartre, a routine mission to collect a rare copy of Candide by Voltaire for the Library turned deadly when scorpions attacked Kai in the Paris apartment of Count Lecerf. Irene and Kai suspect the count is Fae, but they have no proof. Particularly troubling was that the scorpions focused their attack exclusively on Kai.

Backdrop to Shadow's Dream

Shadow's Dream is the fourth story in Six-Crossed Knot, a series based on the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. The action takes place in May of 1591. Diana and Matthew returned about a week ago from a trip to Prague, where they'd spent the past two months.

All in the Family

When it comes to dysfunctional families, the Greek gods set the gold standard. As is the case with mortals, problems more often than not can be traced back to the head of the family, and Zeus fits the pattern. Worshiped as the king of the gods, Zeus was also the chief philanderer. His sister Hera was well aware of his deplorable proclivities. She grudgingly agreed to marry him to spare herself further embarrassment after he seduced her. Zeus apparently loved nothing so much as shapeshifting into another appearance so he could cavort with mortal maidens. For her part, Hera's acts of jealousy and vengeance are legendary. There's more than a hint of Zeus in Astrena. Her rightful domain is the stars, but she prefers to live on Earth. Like Zeus, she's fascinated by mortals, but in Astrena's case, the consequences for her victims are deadly. So far, she's managed to keep her family spats out of view. That's about to change, and it begins in Night Howls on the Hudson.

Mozzie the Master Storyteller

One of the many delights that writing in an AU provides is the ability to develop aspects of a character that may have only been hinted about in canon. The seeds for Neal's life as a grad student at Columbia can be found in "Upper West Side Story" when Neal had a fling at teaching in a prep school. During that episode, we learned all his diplomas were forgeries, and that he'd never graduated from high school. Neal told Peter that if his sentence was commuted, he might go back to school and get a master's. Fast forward to Caffrey Conversation where Neal is in the doctorate program at Columbia University. Neal's partner in crime, Mozzie, is experiencing a similar transformation in Caffrey Conversation.