Codes & Conspiracies

If you liked The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, you may enjoy these titles:

Berry, Steve.  The Templar Legacy (2006)
Clues from a coded journal lead to present day Knights Templar, their mysterious “Great Devise,” and their headquarters in the French stronghold of Rennes-le-Chateau, where a power-mad Knight leads an army of monks.  Other thrillers by this author feature codes, mysterious manuscripts, and ancient secrets.

Burman, Edward.  The Image of Our Lord (1990)
A medieval thriller which involves King Philip the Fair of France, the Knights Templar and a fabled holy relic.

Caldwell, Ian and Dustin Thomason.  The Rule of Four (2004)
The secrets of a rare manuscript, “The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,” put two Princeton students in danger.

Case, John.  The Eighth Day (2002)
A private investigator follows sinister clues from Washington to the Vatican to ancient ruins in Eastern Turkey on behalf of a wealthy billionaire who may be the devil incarnate.

Cordy, Michael.  The Miracle Strain (1997)
A science thriller featuring a secret religious group seeking the DNA of Jesus which they believe will result in the Second Coming, but which a doctor believes can be the miraculous cure for many diseases.

Eco, Umberto.  The Name of the Rose (1994)
While religion is part of this puzzler, there is also a detective story, a murder mystery and a rich medieval background.

Hougan, Jim.  Kingdom Come (2000)
A clue in the an ancient statue of “The Black Virgin” reveals a secret society of world leaders who plot to restore the Merovingian kings to a European throne.

Khoury, Raymond.  The Last Templar (2006)
When the opening gala of a Vatican exhibit attended by archaeologist Tess Chaykin is stormed by four horsemen dressed as Templar Knights who steal an artifact, FBI anti-terrorist specialist Sean Reilly and Tess team up for an investigation.

Kleier, Glenn.  The Last Day (1997)
A woman proclaims herself to be the Messiah.  Science and religion debate if she is a result of biotech engineering, cloning, or a miracle. 

MacDonald, James D.  The Apocalypse Door (2002)
A modern day Knight Templar is on the trail of an artifact that could unleash untold horrors upon the world.

McGowan, Kathleen.  The Expected One (2006)
Journalist Maureen Pascal discovers that she is destined to play a key role in an international quest to gain control of a priceless series of scrolls, written in the first century by Mary Magdalene and hidden in the wilds of the French Pyrenees.

Mosse, Kate.  The Labyrinth (2006)
A present-day adventure that starts on a French archaeological site and see-saws between modern and medieval times when persecuted Cathars guarded the secret of the Grail…and some still do!

Navarro, Julia.  The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud (2007)
A catastrophic fire at the Turin cathedral, where the Holy Shroud is kept, and the discovery of a dead man without a tongue set off an investigation by the elite Italian Art Crimes Department that leads back to the mysterious origins of the relic.

Neville, Katherine.  The Eight (1988)
An antique chess set, a gift to Charlemagne from the Moors, supposedly holds the secret to great power – if someone can decipher the code. 

Perdue, Lewis.  Daughter of God (2000)
A missing Vatican artifact, the burial shroud of a third century female messiah, becomes the focus of a search by an art expert who disappears.  Her husband goes after her kidnappers, and attracts the attention of sinister agents from the Vatican, Russian gangsters and other greedy villains.

Powers, Tim.  Declare (2001)
A complex blend of speculative fiction, spy story, real historical characters and the supernatural:  a literary “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.

Rabb, Jonathan.  The Book of Q (2001)
A priest, an ancient scroll of Manichaean origin, a search that leads to eastern Europe, a secret sect, Vatican murders, and an old love affair all figure in this book. 

Rollins, James.  Map of Bones (2006)
Action, conspiracy, and an ancient secret society and the search for a mysterious relic lead the Sigma team from the Cologne Cathedral to the Middle East.

Sholes, Lynne and Joe Moore.  The Grail Conspiracy (2006)
The Holy Grail, discovered in Iraq, may hold the DNA of Christ with which a secret society wants to clone a new Messiah.

Sierra, Javier.  The Secret Supper (2006)
Leonardo da Vinci and his “Last Supper” are being scrutinized by a Vatican Inquisitor who is tipped that the artist hid a blasphemous secret message in the mural. 

Wood, Barbara.  The Prophetess (1996)
The finding of six ancient scrolls in the Sinai Desert, written by a female leader of the early Christian Church, touches off a wild scramble for the seventh whose message will revolutionize Christianity.