The first thing that happens in the DaVinci code is that the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, get murdered. Jacques Sauniere was a member of a secret society called the Priory of Sion. According to legend, the Priory of Sion is protecting the location of the grave of Mary Magdalene or as she is called by Priory members "the holy grail". Sauniere was shot by a member of a religious sect called Opus Dei. Opus Dei is a "branch" of the Catholic Church that believes in very strict and sometimes extreme practices. When a high-ranking member of Opus Dei finds out that the Catholic Church is going to stop recognizing Opus Dei, he decides that finding the Grail will give him more power over the church. The bishop hires Silas, an albino monk to hunt down members of the Priory of Sion and to find the location of the Holy Grail. .
According to the story the Catholic Church has many reasons to want to keep the grail hidden. Legend says that Mary Magdalene was buried with papers that prove that the Catholic Church lied about many things including the life of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. The characters in this novel believe that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute but she was in fact married to Jesus. If you look at the "Last Supper".
painted by Leonardo DaVinci, it appears that its Mary Magdalene is sitting next to him and it's not an apostle like many people have assumed.
This book is called The DaVicni Code because of the way Sauniere passes on the Priory's secrets. His granddaughter Sophie Neveu is a cryptologist with the Paris police department. Her special talent is breaking codes. Museum curators have a special pen that they use to mark paintings with. This pen can only be seen with a black light. After he was shot Sauniere knew he only had so much time to live. He scribbled codes that he knew Sophie could break all over the Louvre that would lead her to uncover the Priory's secrets. .
Unfortunately Sauniere also scribbled "Find Robert Langdon" next to what would be his dead body.