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Ukrainian Fake Book Mystery

At open-air markets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev this summer, devotees of Dan Brown, the best-selling author of "The Da Vinci Code," came upon what looked like an unexpected treat, a sensational new novel exploring a deep Vatican secret.Its title, "The First Merovingian," referring to a Dark Ages European dynasty that according to myth descended from Jesus, hinted of a classic Brown story line. On the back of the attractively bound 511-page volume was a photo of Brown.

But when readers cracked the hardcover book, they were sorely disappointed. A crude cut-and-paste job, it contained lengthy excerpts from histories of Christianity and the Inquisition interspersed with selections from a 14th-century anthology of short stories. In the last year, fakes like the Dan Brown faux novel have appeared in Ukrainian cities under the names of popular Russian authors such as Polina Dashkova, Darya Dontsova, Alexander Bushkov and Boris Akunin.

There have been similar problems in China with fake Harry Potter novels. In 2002, a Chinese publishing house issued "Harry Potter and the Leopard-Walk-up-to-Dragon," which was in fact a translation of JRR Tolkien`s "The Hobbit" with Potter and some other characters added to the mix. The publishers of the real Potter series eventually obtained an injunction stopping distribution.