Still Running Off at the Keyboard

"The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown and his courtroom nemesis, Michael Baigent, now have a new rivalry - on the best-seller lists.
Brown's novel goes on sale in paperback Tuesday with an advance printing of 5 million copies, the same day that HarperSanFrancisco is issuing "The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History" by Baigent, with an initial hardcover print run of a much more modest 150,000.

Baigent and his former co-author Richard Leigh are awaiting the verdict in a British lawsuit that charges Brown lifted much of his "Da Vinci" plot from their 1982 book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" which - like "Jesus Papers" - was marketed as nonfiction.

In religious terms, Brown and Baigent are allies.

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