Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre, Jacques Sauniere, has been brutally murdered inside the museum.Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes.As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci - and suggests the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of history. Langdon suspects the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - a centuries old secret society - and has sacrificed his life to protect the Priory's most sacred trust: the location of a vastly important religious relic hidden for centuries.But it now appears that Opus Dei, a clandestinesect that has long plotted to seize the Prirory's secret, has now made its move.Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, the Priory's secret - and a stunning historical truth - will be lost forever...Breaking the mould of traditional suspense novels, The Da Vinci Code is simultaneously lightning-paced, intelligent and intricately layered with remarkable research and detail. From the opening pages to the unpredictable and stunning conclusion, Dan Brown proves himself to be a master storyteller.