Buried Treasure

Did the FBI abscond with nine tons of stolen gold?

Fiction starts where real life ends.

If you have read my novel, Treasure of the Diary, you know that I wrote about Dents Run, Pennsylvania’s legendary buried Civil War Gold. Is it real, or did I make it up out of whole cloth?

Kris Maher in the Wall Street Journal writes about the allegation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up nine tons of the gold, worth more than $500 million, and made off with it in the middle of the night.

According to the article, Warren Getler, co-author of Rebel Gold and a former Wall Street Journal reporter said he believed Confederate sympathizers allied with a secretive society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, likely stole and hid the gold.

Treasure hunters were sure that they had found the spot where the gold was hidden, and believed they had a finder’s fee deal. There is no question about the dig by the FBI. They brought more than 50 agents to the location and dug down 12 feet, but “Nothing was found,” the FBI says. The treasure hunters who led the FBI to the spot have gone to court. They aim to prove the loot was in the ground, and the government took it!

To readers of Treasure of the Diary, it sounds familiar. You can read Maher’s full article titled, Three Men Battle the FBI Over Buried Civil War Gold. Stuff Just Doesn’t Add Up. in the August 5, 2023, issue of the Wall Street Journal.

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Collins’s books are available from neighborhood bookstores and online sources. E-book editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes,and directly from Audible.com.

A lazy New York Weekend

One of my readers sent me this photo. She lives in New York City. It was an overcast and dreary weekend day, but it was also a free weekend, one with no more holiday parties or events to attend, no visitors to the big city to entertain, and no more incomplete work projects to be dealt with.

It was a perfect day to just relax and read a book. And that is exactly what this reader did. She sat in front of her apartment window looking down on a New York City street, propped her feet up and read Treasure of the Diary. Later in the day, she texted me:

Just finished —it was great!! Loved reading about Applewood Manor and Asheville. I also did not realize Asheville was involved much in the Civil War. Are there actually tunnels?

If you are wondering, I did reply to her question about the tunnels noting that a little truth is the nexus of good fiction. There are rumors of tunnels—from beer halls and hotels to brothels and also to transport and store moonshine and illegal liquor, so why wouldn’t there “actually be tunnels” during the war?

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

A Book for Christmas

My new book, Treasure of the Diary, seventh in the Mark Rollins Adventure series, has arrived just in time for Christmas

In the tradition of a rags-to-riches story, three Belmont college students find a one hundred and fifty year old diary written during the Civil War. Using their wit and modern technology, they discover the diary’s secret and their find sends them to Asheville and the western North Carolina mountains in search of buried treasure.

I think you will find Treasure of the Diary an enjoyable family friendly mystery. It is both educational and entertaining, weaving historical fiction and familiar places into a seemingly realistic adventure mystery.

And it would be a good choice for this year’s Christmas gifts!

And I ask a favor. After reading Treasure of the Diary , please post a review on the website where you made your purchase or on https://www.goodreads.com/.

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

What would you do if you found an old Civil War diary?

In my new book, Treasure of the Diary, three college students do just that. The old diary was written by a Confederate soldier while a prisoner of war. He secretly recorded the plight of prisoners, their mistreatment, bad food and water, disease, general miseries, and the occasional fleeting moments of happiness in an otherwise hopeless place. When he fears he will not reach freedom alive, he writes a secret in his journal.

More than a hundred a fifty years later, the college students discover the diary’s secret. Their find sends them to the Western North Carolina mountains in search of a stash of stolen Civil War gold.

The new book, number seven in the Mark Rollins Adventures series of mysteries, is scheduled for release in December and will be available in print, digital and audio formats. Pre-release orders for signed copies of print editions are being accepted now on www.tomcollinsauthor.com.

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    All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com.  The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond  Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

Treasure of The Diary Moves to Editing

Book #7 in the Mark Rollins Adventures series has moved to editing. The story is a short one, a little over 30,000 words compared to 55,000 for the typical murder mystery. However, this is not a murder mystery and that was the number of words needed to tell the story of buried stollen gold and a two hundred year old diary that contains the direction to the treasure—if you are smart enough to figure it out.

The unique cover is the idea and design of Tom Trebing who has designed all prior covers. Thomas King Lusty, Trebing’s Great, Great Grandfather, was born at Near Stroud, King Stanley, Gloucestershire UK on February 2, 1799 and died in the US on August 2, 1884 at age 85. He was a ships carpenter and, except for a short role in the Civil War building fortifications around Chattanooga, he traveled the world. Throughout his seafaring life, Thomas Lusty kept a diary. It is that two hundred year old diary that served as the model for the cover of Treasure of the Diary.

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.

Treasure of the Diary

Book #7 in the Mark Rollins Adventure series is in process. The first draft was completed last week and now I am in the process of rereading the draft and tweaking it before giving the editors a crack at it. In the interim, I thought I would give you a preview of the cover. Prior to publication, it too will be tweaked. The cover, designed by Tom Trebing who also designed covers for all my prior books, is modeled after an antebellum diary. I will tell you more about that diary and who it belonged to later. Keep in mind, this like the book itself is a work in process. Suggestions are welcome.

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.