Devil Tree

James Pharmaceutical Company (JPC) is on the verge of a colossal breakthrough in the world of pharmaceuticals: a cure for Alzheimer's disease. JPC has developed the formula, but cannot perfect the product due to side effects as well as a cash shortage.

When the president of JPC discovers that an unknown yet trusted key employee has made a copy of a secret document outlining the cure, he calls in a favor from his old friend, Jean Paul Koenig, PhD. Jean Paul, or J. P., an expert in herbal pharmaceuticals, reluctantly agrees to get involved. Along the way, J. P. befriends a Japanese intelligence officer who has been trying to find a new product for a small innovative Japanese pharmaceutical company in Bandai, Japan. Together they evaluate the situation and work through deceit and violence as major international pharmaceutical companies fight for the highly coveted pharmaceutical, its raw material, and the rights to market it.

John Frederick Derr, a health-care executive and retired naval officer, lives in Washington. The former executive has started four health-care companies, and, as a naval reservist, he was the reserve commanding officer of two destroyers.