The Da Vinci Code Movie to Premiere May 19, Sequel Speculation Started  2/2/06

With All Eyes Focused on the Da Vinci Code Movie, What Will the Sequel Be About?

NEW YORK, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 2006 is shaping up to be the Year of the Da Vinci Code Movie. Excitement is already building over the May 17 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and the May 19 worldwide release of the Da Vinci Code film starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. But interest has also been cooking beneath the surface about what Dan Brown will write next. An eruption may occur at any time.

SECRETS OF THE WIDOW'S SON: The Mysteries Surrounding the Sequel to The Da Vinci Code by David A. Shugarts (Sterling Publishing) is a book-length look into its author's highly educated detective work about the subject matter of the next Dan Brown novel.

The Times of London started off the year with a bang on January 1 with an article about Secrets of the Widow's Son. On January 3, the top-rated magazine show Inside Edition featured a piece on the book, in which author David A. Shugarts explained how he decoded the clues that led him to the supposition that Dan Brown's next book will take place in Washington, DC and involve the Freemasons.

And Hollywood has called. Shugarts has been approached by a variety of production companies eager to produce dramatic entertainment by tapping the research he has done. He is consulting for one of these, Mark Burnett Productions.

Secrets of the Widow's Son is "the book to read" while you are waiting for Dan Brown to finish his next novel. Brown's book has been delayed longer than most publishing industry experts originally thought likely. At one point, Brown's publisher confirmed that the next novel would be called The Solomon Key. But more recently, the publisher has indicated that it would not have that title. Whatever the title turns out to be, whatever the next Dan Brown novel turns out to be about, David Shugarts' book provides excellent background for anticipating future Brown novels.

Shugarts spent a year rummaging through raw materials from which the sequel to The Da Vinci Code is likely to be fashioned, including the link between the Freemasons and America's Founding Fathers, the relationship between Egyptian hieroglyphics and 19th century American religion and how colorful characters such as Albert Pike and Joseph Smith might figure in Dan Brown's thinking. Secrets of the Widow's Son shows the connections that join all of these themes and make them relevant to American history -- but not the history that everyone reads in grade school. This is a story of America with secrets that are "hidden in plain sight."

Mark Burnett is known as the person who defined "reality TV" with such shows as Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender and Rock Star: INXS ... Although the projects themselves are top-secret, Mark Burnett said he is eager to put all of Shugarts' research to exciting new uses. "David Shugarts and I will be working very closely together in the months ahead," he said.

Secrets of the Widow's Son is the latest in the "Secrets" series created by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer. The two earlier books, Secrets of the Code and Secrets of Angels & Demons, are each New York Times and international bestsellers. Together, these three titles have over two million copies in print worldwide. A brand new, updated paperback edition of Secrets of the Code, the essential reader's guide to The Da Vinci Code book and movie, will be published in March by CDS Books/Perseus Books Group. A documentary film based on Secrets of the Code is also in the works. 

SOURCE Squibnocket Partners LLC

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