About the Book

In January, 1966 a small group of American scientists traveled to Brazil seeking new and exotic plants to test for curative powers. It was a secret mission sponsored by a consortium of big American pharmaceutical companies who have pooled their talents and money to find a cure for cancer. They are determined to beat a group from Europe who are sponsoring a similar search in the rain forests of Africa. The stakes are huge for the winning team. The scientists traveled deep into the Amazon rain forests, talking to native tribes along the way. One small, obscure, tribe whose people have never even heard of cancer, showed them the plants the natives used and consumed daily to maintain their incredibly good health. The scientists collect over a hundred samples to take back to their lab in New York for testing. Among them is liquid taken from a plant that the natives wouldn''t go near, claiming it brought death to any one who touched it. They collected the sample in a glass vial and labeled it sample # 23. How did this small sample get to Northeast Arkansas and why did five people die before three men, calling themselves "The Varsity Club", solve the mystery and bring the perpetrator to justice? Read how in Up On Crowley''s Ridge.