Diamonds and Cole

Cole Sage Mystery, Book 1

By: Micheal Maxwell

Narrated by: Lou Hecker

In the first Cole Sage book, we find Cole at the low point of his career. Now, he's returned to the paper where he started his career, The Chicago Sentinel. Instead of writing the big stories, he's doing the work of a rookie reporter. His "big story of the day" is a cat caught in a tree. During its rescue, the cat's owner takes her Good Samaritan neighbor hostage. Cole witnesses something so disturbing it reawakens the journalist's desire to write again.

Returning to the paper, Cole finds a desperate message asking for help from Ellie, one that got away. The one that has continually haunted his life. Cole drops everything and flies to California. He must find what would make her so desperate, she would call him after so many years. Cole finds her terminally ill, and abandoned by her husband. He discovers while Ellie was heavily medicated, she mistakenly signed a power of attorney. Now her estranged daughter Erin's inheritance won't go to her, but her abusive step-father. Cole vows to find the girl and right the situation.

The path to keeping his word is blocked at every turn by the husband who abandoned her, his shady real estate deals, violent con men, street thugs, and the lure of a fortune in diamonds that unite them. The anger, sorrow, and crippling guilt of 20 years fires Cole's drive to keep a promise, that in the end, will heal and return the soul to the great journalist.

Beaten, bloody but determined, Cole Sage conquers greed and hatred with a strength that only love, and a will as hard as diamond, can achieve.

©2013 Micheal Maxwell (P)2016 Micheal Maxwell

Cole Sage Is A Good Man

Loved this story and so glad it is the first in the series so I can catch up and read the first eight, then the ninth, the tenth....you get it. I loved this story. The author made his books available through Facebook postings and then on Amazon’s unlimited. I happened to decide to buy this first book in e-format and audible format. Great decision. Let’s just say that listening to the narrator bring Cole Sage to life was rewarding. Cole is a broken man who let the woman he loved all his life get away. He hasn’t ever gotten over her. He is now 45 years old, a respected journalist, known world wide and still Ellie haunts his memories. So, when she calls him out of the blue and tells him she needs help and he is the only person she could think of, he drops everything, takes vacation time and flies from Chicago to Los Angeles. What he finds there is heartbreaking, Ellis is dying, but she needs his help. Being a resourceful and clever investigative reporter, he listens to her request and sets about to try to give her what she is asking. He turns over a lot of trouble. Her husband is a crook and mixed up with some very unsavory characters. The worst thing though is what he has done to Ellie. She is dying and he has left her at a nursing home with no visits. Hard to understand. So, Cole gets involved and the events that unfold make this a terrific mystery. No blood or bad behavior unless you count the bad guys. It is a book worthy of Jack Reacher or Philip Marlowe but without bad language or violence. Micheal Maxwell writes a mystery and creates a hero we would all like to be. The narrator, Lou Hecker, is excellent. Wish all the books had audible formats available.

refreshing change

heart warming a real change to so much I usually read. I can share this book with you 11 year old or my wife and know the essence of the story will shine brightly. Yet it's the sort of story you can't put down..

Laughter and Tears

Realistic characters with soul, wit and authenticity. Wonderfully read aloud almost like a radio play!

This book is great,

This is great book, don't need Profanity and sex to make a good book. Amazon is carrying this series I wish audible would also. Have ask them but I didn't get a good response from them

Wow!

This book started out slowly for me. But the summary and other reviews kept me going. I'm so glad I kept listening, I was so immersed in the story, that I had a hard time pausing the book. I really like Cole's sense of justice which is based on protecting the underdog and those given a raw deal.
I was pleasantly surprised by the old country preacher. As Cole searches for answers, he finds them without compromising his respect and dignity
The reader soon learns that Cole has no patience for those that exploit the helpless and vulnerable.
I hope that the author lets us know what happened to a few of the characters in the other books. Especially Whisper.

I wish Audible had all his books narrated, not just "Diamonds and Cole". I loved the narrator.

I strongly recommend this Audible book.