Caffrey Conversation

What began as a single fic in the White Collar fandom has grown into a series. It's more than two million words long and still growing, so this is where to go if you want to lose yourself for hours. We've put our own twist on the characters and their lives, so don't worry if you're not familiar with the TV show.

Setting: New York City, with extensive travel

Time period: Begins in late 2003 (approximately six years before the pilot episode of White Collar). There's also a sub-series authored by Silbrith, placing some of the characters in a fictional college town in the 1970s.

Characters: The main characters are a con artist/thief (Neal Caffrey) and the FBI agent (Peter Burke) who recruits him. Add in their co-workers, families, friends, love interests, and villains, and we have built an extensive cast. As the series progressed, we also made it a mission to include a more diverse set of characters, spanning the gamut of race, sexual orientation, age, abilities, and gender.

Major elements and themes: found family, friendship, romance, college, music, art, crime, mysteries

I wrote the initial stories in the series, and then Silbrith joined as co-author; many of the stories listed below are by Silbrith, who also originated two sub-series. You'll find her stories under her profile.

Sub-series #1 is Crossed Lines. These are stories that crossover White Collar and Supernatural, bringing in paranormal elements such as ghosts, demons, vampires, etc.

Sub-series #2 is Arkham Files. These take the main characters of Caffrey Conversation, and placed them in a college town in the 1970s, introducing elements of interstellar travel / time travel, and taking inspiration from the Cthulhu mythos. In a meta twist, these stories are referred to in the main Caffrey Conversation series as fanfic written by characters to get a reaction from a villain they pursue over an arc of many stories. This sub-series took on a life of its own.

The Caffrey Conversation stories in order:

1) Caffrey Conversation by Penna Nomen 

2) Choirboy Caffrey by Penna Nomen 

3) In the Driver's Seat by Penna Nomen 

4) By the Book by Penna Nomen 

5) Treasure Hunt by Penna Nomen 

6) Caffrey Envoy by Penna Nomen 

7) Written in the Stars by Penna Nomen 

8) Caffrey Flashback by Penna Nomen 

9) Complications by Silbrith 

10) Caffrey Disclosure by Penna Nomen 

11) The Golden Hen by Silbrith 

12) The Woman in Blue by Silbrith 

13) The Queen's Jewels by Silbrith 

14) The Tale of Genji by Silbrith 

15) Caffrey Aloha by Penna Nomen 

16) Wish on a Star by Penna Nomen   

17) The Dreamer by Silbrith 

18) The Mirror by Silbrith 

19) Spring Break by Penna Nomen (combination of four short stories)  

20) Whispers in the Night by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

21) Raphael's Dragon by Silbrith 

22) Homecoming by Penna Nomen

23) Witches' Sabbath by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

24) Magic Trick by Penna Nomen  

25) Echoes of a Violin by Silbrith 

26) Fireflies at Midnight by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

27) Nocturne in Black and Gold by Silbrith 

28) Dark Rabbit by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

29) Harlequin's Shadow by Silbrith 

30) Night Howls on the Hudson by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

31) The Musicians by Silbrith 

32) Columbia Ghost Story by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

33) Cloister of Secrets by Silbrith 

34) Splash by Penna Nomen 

35) Night Music by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

36) A Caffrey Christmas Carol by Penna Nomen (Arkham Files crossover) 

37) Italian Masquerade by Silbrith 

38) A Witch in Venice by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

39) Holiday Letters by Penna Nomen  

40) On Ice by Penna Nomen 

41) Silent Planet by Silbrith 

42) Glass Angels by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

43) Progress of Love by Silbrith 

44) Voodoo Remoulade by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

45) Attack of the Kraken by Silbrith 

46) Cheekbones Caffrey by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

47) Roads Not Taken by Penna Nomen 

48) The Shark of SoHo by Silbrith 

49) Penny Exchange by Silbrith (Arkham Files crossover) 

50) Silver Giraffe by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

51) Lavender Dreams by Penna Nomen 

52) Lost at Sea by Silbrith

53) Dawn of the Jackalopes by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

54) Tsunami by Silbrith 

55) Full Circle by Penna Nomen 

56) Fashion Undertow by Silbrith 

57) Thief in the Woods by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

58) Henry Takes a Holiday by Penna Nomen  

59) Bewitched by Silbrith (Crossed Lines) 

60) Set in Amber by Silbrith 

61) The Family Business by Silbrith (Crossed Lines)

62) Movie Night by Penna Nomen 

63) Skating on Thin Ice by Silbrith

64) Scotch on the Rocks by Silbrith

65) Mousetrap by Silbrith

66) Vermeer Interrupted by Silbrith

67) Overcomplications by Silbrith

68) Dances with Dinosaurs by Silbrith

69) A Piece of the Action by Silbrith

70) Destination Africa by Silbrith

71) Winston's Diamonds by Silbrith

72) A Better Way by Silbrith

73) All For One by Silbrith

74) Live Long and Prosper by Silbrith

75) TBD - conclusion of the Caffrey Conversation series by Penna Nomen, probably in 2026

Arkham Files (all by Silbrith)

1) Visions from Beyond 

2) The Locked Room 

3) The Crypt 

4) Cinereous Skies 

5) Lion's Lair 

6) Time Crystals 

7) Sands of Abydos 

8) Scorpion Hill 

9) Standing Stones 

10) Queen's Gambit 

11) Penny Exchange (crossover with Caffrey Conversation)

12) Zoog Whisperer 

13) Ritual of Varda

14) Tower of Koth

15) Chaos Conundrum

16) Strange Signals

17) Slimed

18) The Woman in Violet

The stories vary in length from 2500 words to 250,000. They were originally published on the Archive of our Own (AO3) and FanFiction sites starting in 2013; now we're editing and posting the stories on Wattpad. Silbrith is ahead of me on this. My plan is to finish posting my stories from this list by early 2023.

We're still writing more stories in the series. Silbrith posts new chapters frequently, and I contribute a couple of new stories per year.