Treasure of the Diary

by Tom Collins

In September of 1864, a gang of Confederate irregulars stormed a Union train and made off with half a ton of gold which they buried somewhere in Asheville, North Carolina. Late in the winter of that year, Corporal James Donaldson Walker, one of the few surviving robbers, was captured by Union soldiers and was sent to Ship Island, a prisoner of war camp about twelve miles off the coast of Mississippi. The pure white sand of the island’s beach as seen from his prison ship melted away Walker’s fear of imprisonment. But the illusion was quickly shattered by a smell as foul as any pig farm mingled with that of dead bodies. To maintain his sanity, he secretly began recording the plight of prisoners—brutally harsh conditions, bad water, starvation, disease, and general miseries all suffered under the callous indifference of their guards. Yet, there were occasional moments of happiness in an otherwise hopeless place. When Corporal Walker fears he will not live to enjoy freedom, he reveals a secret in his diary, one he had pledged to take to his grave.
More than one hundred and fifty years later, three Nashville college students find the old, tattered journal. Sensing that the book will lead to an adventure, they use ultraviolet light to bring the faded cursive writing to life. They discover the secret in the diary, and their find sends them to Western North Carolina in search of the stolen Civil War gold. The students have technology on their side—a drone, deep seeking metal detectors, and even an exotic gravity device that can find caves and underground vaults. Despite their high-tech equipment recovering the gold is not that simple. Their initial effort fails, and they realize that there is more to the diary’s secret than first appeared.
The adventure takes a sinister turn when one of the students disappears. The others call for help. Mark Rollins arrives and is joined in the search for the student by two tough looking men dispatched by the missing boy’s uncle, a former Czech mobster turned Miami real estate tycoon.
Things get dicey when the students discover that they are not the only ones after the gold.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 12, 2022

About the author

AUTHOR AND ENTREPRENEUR

M. Thomas (Tom) Collins writes from his home in Franklin, Tennessee, where his characters come to life and frequent familiar places in the bucolic middle Tennessee landscape and the majestic mountains of Western North Carolina.
A pioneer entrepreneur of the information technology industry, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ALM publication, Law Technology News, for his contribution to the use of technology in the legal services community. Citytech, a London-based publication, called him an “outstanding individual and visionary” when he was named as one of the Top 100 Global Tech Leaders. Although now retired from the commercial world, he continues to write and speak on leadership and management as well as pen his series of Mark Rollins Adventure mysteries and his short story series, Stories from Applewood Manor.
Additional information:
Tom Collins earned his master’s degree from the University of Alabama in 1965 and began his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse (now PwC). He left PwC in 1968 to pursue the emerging business opportunity that followed IBM's consent decree allowing the use of IBM computers for the purpose of providing services. It was the birth of the information technology industry. After serving as one of the principals of Compass, Inc., and then Vice President of NLT Computer Services, he joined with four associates to establish the public company Endata, Inc. Collins began Juris, Inc. in March 1986. When Juris was purchased by LexisNexis in 2007, it had become the leading U.S. provider of financial and business information systems for multi-partner law firms.

APPEARANCES, LECTURES, AND READINGS
Tom Collins is available for selected readings and lectures.



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(5)mysteries

Reviews

[Karen Hronek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sweet and fun read. Great entertainment for a lazy afternoon.