Another day, another story about Da Vinci clones. This one, however, is a little bit more contemporary, since it deals with the death of Pope John Paul I and whether it was actually a heart attack after all:

Pope John Paul I, who died from an apparent heart attack just 33 days after becoming pontiff in 1978, was in fact assassinated over his plans to radically reform the Catholic Church, a novel to be published worldwide next year charges.

Portuguese author and television scriptwriter Luis Miguel Rocha, 29, said he based "The Last Pope" on documents he obtained through an undisclosed Vatican source, which he will make public once the novel is published in April.

The novel expounds the theory that John Paul I had become a threat because he was aware of money laundering involving the Vatican Bank as well as due to his plans to liberalise some aspects of centuries-old Church doctrine.

Aside from attracting interest at Frankfurt, the book is allegedly going to have some kind of preface from Dan Brown, but that may just be conjecture speaking.

Still, with all these crypto-religious conspiracy books coming our way, I'm starting to hanker for the reissue of what might be the anti-DVC: Celia Gittelson's SAVING GRACE, which was released by Knopf back in 1981 (and made into a so-so movie in 1985 starring Tom Conti) and centers around a newly elected Pope who gets metaphorical stage fright and runs away -- with a host of Vatican cops after him. No conspiracies, no cliffhangers, just a hugely entertaining debut novel.

(article hat tip to Publishers Lunch)