`Da Vinci Code` Author Finishes New Book

`The Da Vinci Code` was Brown`s last book, and since its 2003 release his fans have eagerly awaited another novel.

"The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown has finished a new book based on the fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, television show "Entertainment Tonight" reportedThursday.

Movie director Ron Howard, who made the 2006 film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" with Tom Hanks playing the central role of Langdon, told "Entertainment Tonight" the author's latest work features the same character, but details were scant.

Other media outlets have reported that Brown's next book has the working title "The Solomon Key," is based in Washington, D.C. and centers on the Freemasons.

A representative for Doubleday, Brown's publisher and a unit of Bertelsmann AG, declined to comment.

Howard disclosed the news on Brown's latest book in Geneva Thursday on the set of "Angels and Demons," another movie based on a Brown novel featuring Hanks in the role of Langdon. The film is due out May 15.

Howard said that he has not read Brown's latest work but looks forward to it.

"The Da Vinci Code" was Brown's last book, and since its 2003 release his fans have eagerly awaited another novel.

Brown's work has outraged the Vatican and some Catholics because the fictional story lines in "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" involve conspiracy and the Catholic Church.