Love Dan Brown? Then you'll like these books which are all available from the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library catalog.
- Bayard, Louis. The Black Tower. Paris, 1818. Homicide inspector Eugáene Vidocq questions Dr. Hector Carpentier, whose name and address were found in a dead man's pocket. Clues connect him to the mystery of long-lost dauphin Louis-Charles--ten-year-old son of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI--who was once imprisoned in the black tower. Strong language and some violence. 2008. DB071690
- Brokaw, Charles. The Atlantis Code. While on set for a television show in Alexandria, Egypt, Harvard linguistics professor Thomas Lourds narrowly escapes death during the armed theft of a mysterious artifact. Lourds's determination to decipher his copy of the artifact's inscription angers the Vatican's secret Society of Quirinus. Violence and descriptions of sex. 2009. DB071764
- Caldwell, Ian. The Rule of Four. Princeton seniors Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris unravel the secrets of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a baffling Renaissance text. Using the Rule of Four, they decode a hidden crypt's location and quickly face revelations, bizarre events, and even death. Some descriptions of sex, some violence, and some strong language. Bestseller. 2004. DB058297
- Case, John. The Genesis Code. In an Italian church, a doctor confesses a sin so detestable that the priest refuses him absolution. In Washington, D.C., an agent investigates the mysterious murder of his sister and her son. His probe uncovers a plot by a secret sect in Italy, which involves the unspeakable sin. Strong language and violence. DB045547
- Crombie, Deborah. A Finer End. Detective Duncan Kincaid and his lover, the newly promoted Gemma James, travel to Glastonbury to help Duncan's cousin, Jack Montfort. Jack, haunted by the spirit of a medieval monk, needs help when his friends' lives are endangered. 2001. DB055014
- Cussler, Clive. Treasure : a novel. When the great Library of Alexandria was sacked in A.D. 391, perhaps some of its fabulous art treasures and volumes from its library escaped the flames and were ferried across the Atlantic. This is the premise of a suspense caper that features green-eyed agent Dirk Pitt, a James Bond type whom "no woman could completely possess." Some strong language. Bestseller. DB026993
- DeMille, Nelson. The lion's game: a novel. John Corey and FBI agent Kate Mayfield are at the New York airport to meet a Libyan terrorist nicknamed "the lion." But the aircraft lands with all of the passengers dead and the lion missing. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2000. DB049310
- Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose. A combination of religious heresy and a string of murders in a medieval Italian monastery brings Brother William onto the scene to rout out both the infidels and the perpetrator of the crimes. All of this revolves around secrets hidden in the abbey library, although what the mystery is remains elusive. Bestseller 1983. DB019739
- Eco, Umberto. Foucault's Pendulum. Casaubon, a student of philology in the 1970s, is writing a thesis on the Templars, a monastic order of knights officially disbanded in the 1300s, though some say it only went underground and is still active. Casaubon discusses the order with his friends, Belbo and Diotallevi, and they decide to construct a bogus "Plan for the Templars." Before long the plan they invented has become real, and what started as a joke has become a nightmare. Bestseller. DB030338
- Frayn, Michael. Headlong. Philosopher Martin Clay and his art-historian wife, Kate, are spending time at their English country cottage. While dining with neighbors, he notices a painting he believes to be a lost Dutch treasure by Brueghel. But Martin's investigation, without Kate's knowledge, leads to more trouble than he expected. Some strong language. 1999. DB050790
- Khoury, Raymond. The Last Templar. During a showing of Vatican treasures at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, horsemen dressed as Knights Templar attack and steal precious artifacts including an encoder. FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin investigate while Catholic Church authorities worry about the consequences. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2005. DB061938
- Khoury, Raymond. The Sanctuary. Lebanon. Kidnappers take archaeology professor Evelyn Bishop after she becomes entangled in the deadly quest for an ancient codex containing the ingredients for an antiaging elixir. Evelyn's daughter Mia and embassy official Jim Corben search for Evelyn and become the target of killers. Some violence and some strong language. 2007. DB065650
- Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. South Carolina, 1964. Fourteen-year-old Lily rescues her African American housekeeper--and substitute mother--Rosaleen, from the hospital. Rosaleen had been beaten for trying to register to vote. They flee to a safe place where Lily's battered late mother had also fled--a beekeeping operation run by three black sisters. Some strong language. DB055533
- Ludlum, Robert. The Icarus Agenda. Young congressman accepts a secret mission to rescue Americans held hostage by fanatical terrorists in the Middle East. Returning home a hero, he becomes embroiled in another plot--to murder the president. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. DB026963
- Neville, Katherine. The Eight: a novel. Two women share an adventure spanning three continents and two centuries. Catherine Velis, a computer expert, is sent to Algeria and becomes involved in the search for a jeweled chess set that holds the key to great power. Her story alternates with that of Mireille de Remy, a novice at the Montglane Abbey in the revolution-torn France of 1790, who helped hide the chess pieces for safe keeping. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. DB031050
- Pears, Iain. An Instance of the Fingerpost. In 1663, Dr. Robert Grove, a fellow at New College, Oxford, dies of arsenic poisoning. His former servant, Sarah Blundy, is hanged for his murder. But some say Sarah is innocent. Four men offer their views on Grove's death and Sarah's innocence during this period of religious, scientific, and political upheaval in England. Some violence. Bestseller. DB047002
- Quinn, Daniel. The Story of B. Father Jared Osborne is dispatched to investigate a suspected Antichrist, known as B. As he engages B in dialogue, Osborne learns that B's tenets have less to do with God and spirituality than with man's responsibility to nature and the survival of the world. DB043863
- Silva, Daniel. The Confessor. Israeli spy Gabriel Allon investigates the murder of his colleague Benjamin Stern. Stern was working on documents linking the Catholic Church to the Holocaust. Allon discovers an assassin hired by a conservative church group to keep its archives secret and the new pope silent. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. DB055724
- Wood, Barbara. The Prophetess: a novel. As the millennium approaches, archaeologist Catherine Alexander discovers six scrolls while searching for the Well of Miriam. After translating the scrolls, she continues her search for the seventh, which will uncover religious revelations that the Catholic Church and other governments want kept secret. DB046722