Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code' follow-up delayed

LONDON, Apr 22: Dan Brown's follow-up novel to his global bestseller ''The Da Vinci Code'' won't be ready by the end of the year as originally expected, his publisher said.

''We don't know when it's coming, but it's out of the schedule for this year,'' Larry Finlay, managing director for Transworld Publishers in London, a division of Bertelsmann-owned Random House, said yesterday.

''At one point we were hoping for it around October or November, but now it's looking like 2007,'' he told Reuters, confirming a report in the Bookseller trade publication.

The book, whose title and plot are as secretly guarded as the religious sects Brown writes about, remains unfinished, with Brown having been embroiled in a high-profile plagiarism lawsuit and the publicity surrounding an upcoming film adaptation of ''The Da Vinci Code'' starring Tom Hanks.

Neither Brown nor his agent in New York could immediately be reached to comment on reasons for the new book's delay.

The working title on the novel had been ''The Solomon Key'' though it was reportedly dropped.

Speculative books such as ''Secrets of the Widow's Son'' and ''The Solomon Key and Beyond'', as well as fan Web sites, have been trying to crack the plot, which Brown himself has hinted will deal with the ancient society of Masons.

Brown, 41, was vindicated earlier this month in a British court battle with two historians who accused him of plagiarising their book to write ''The Da Vinci Code''.

A US appeals court on Thursday also upheld a lower court's ruling that Brown did not copy elements of another author's work.

''The Da Vinci Code'' is one of the most successful novels of all time, having sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

Brown's earlier books, including ''Deception Point'' and ''Angels&Demons'', also have become and remain bestsellers on the heels of the theological thriller's success.

Ron Howard's film version of ''The Da Vinci Code'' is set to open this year's Cannes film festival in May.

Reuters