Author Dan Brown is best known for his controversial best-seller, The Da Vinci Code, which was released in 2003 by Doubleday Books. He was born and raised in Exeter, where his father taught mathematics for 35 years at the prestigious boarding-school Phillips Exeter Academy. Today, he is New Hampshire's James Bond.

Dan graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1982. He later graduated from Amherst College in 1986 and went on to pursue a musical career first as a songwriter, then as an English teacher at Phillips Exeter before he moved into writing fiction full-time in 1996. His first thriller novel, Digital Fortress was published in 1998 and became a best-seller. He followed that with Angels and Demons in 2000 and Deception Point in 2001.

His most famous work to date, The Da Vinci Code, was written about a cryptic code that was discovered in Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork. The main character, Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, is called upon to decipher the code. The story itself is based upon ancient historical facts and documents, including the hidden codes in some of Da Vinci's famous paintings. It has become one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

In 2004, each of Brown's four novels appeared on the New York Times bestseller list during the same week. The Da Vinci Code was adapted for the silver screen and starred Tom Hanks, becoming one of the top grossing films of 2006. Brown is also working on a sequel to the mega-successful book, titled The Solomon Key. The book is expected to be released in 2008.

Brown is married to his wife, Blythe, whom he met while living in California. She is a painter and art historian. They married in 1997.

Time magazine named Dan Brown one of the "World's Most Influential People" in 2005. Considering that he has created a world of Christian controversy, remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for the better part of two years and revived an interest in conspiracy-theories, code-breaking and history, that declaration might be an understatement.

Books by Dan Brown:

Digital Fortress, 1998
Angels & Demons, 2000
Deception Point, 2001
The Da Vinci Code, 2003