Da Vinci Code Author Holds Key

It seems likely that January Magazine’s readers won’t really care that Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, has written a follow-up Robert Langdon novel. Especially when you consider the source: Entertainment Tonight Online. We’re going to repeat it anyway. Even if you don’t want to know, you can remember that you saw it here first:

ET breaks news from the 'Angels & Demons' set in Geneva. Ron Howard tells ET that The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons author Dan Brown has completed a third book featuring Professor Robert Langdon.

Unsurprisingly, The Los Angeles Times seems more excited about the news than we are:

There is no word yet from Brown’s official website or from his publisher, Doubleday, though Brown has given some information about his "Da Vinci Code" follow-up on his website, assuring readers there that "the next Robert Langdon novel ... is set deep within the oldest fraternity in history ... the enigmatic brotherhood of the Masons." The Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Trachtenberg reported in January of last year that the new novel even carried the tentative title, "The Solomon Key."

These shreds of information about the next book resulted in plenty of preemptive marketing: I can't even tell you how many books about Masons, secret societies and the hidden meanings of Washington, D.C., landmarks have arrived in our offices over the last few years. In the wake of "The Da Vinci Code," there was a billion imitators. Now they aren't even waiting for the new book.

If nothing else, word about the new book should help get some butts into seats when the Dan Brown-penned, Ron Howard-directed Angels & Demons opens on May 15th.