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Mormonism and popular media/Dan Brown's next book and Mormonism
Issue
There has been much speculation that the LDS Church will be featured in Dan Brown's next book.
Response
There has been a great deal of speculation concerning Dan Brown's upcoming book, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. The working title is The Solomon Key.
This speculation stems from the words of the Masonic Grand Hailing Sign of Distress that were hidden inside the fly leaf of The Da Vinci Code. By reading the words in bold print you will get the phase "Is there no hope for the widow's son?", a phase every Freemason learns as part of the ritual of the Master Mason degree.
A Google search of this phase returns several web pages about a speech by Reed C. Durham given at the 1974 meeting of the Mormon History Association. This speech, and the accompanying paper, outlined a connection between Joseph Smith, Jr. and the institution of Freemasonry.
From this connection some people have concluded that Brown's forthcoming book will feature Mormonism in some sort of major role.
Just how the phase "Is there no hope for the widow's son" became so connected with Joseph Smith, Jr. is an interesting topic. Joseph Smith was a Mason, as were most of the Latter-day Saint men of his time. When Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob at the jail in Carthage, Illinois, he called out "Oh Lord, my God!" as he fell from the jail house window. Dr. Durham proposed that Joseph was giving the Masonic Grand Hailing Sign of Distress, and it was from this event that he took the title of his now famous talk.
Dan Brown has given no indication that his upcoming book with have anything to do with the Latter-day Saints or the faith's complex connection to the Freemasons. Any Mason will tell you that Joseph Smith is far from the first or last Mason ever to have used the phase in time of need. Many accounts of its use in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars can be found in Masonic histories. Given that Brown himself has indicated that his next book takes place in Washington D.C., a city filled with Masonic symbolism in its building and even its city planning, it would seem unlikely that the LDS Church would play any role in such a title.
Conclusion
Dan Brown has given no indication of any connection between his forth coming book and the LDS Church. Such a connection is the result of speculation and nothing more.