Review Detail

On the face of it, you wouldn’t think that an hour of expressionless narration in a barely intelligible north England accent about totally obscure codes and connections could hold one’s interest…but it did. Strangely enough, the video journey through the castles, churches, graveyards, streets and underground passageways of Lincolnshire, supplemented with art, architecture, music and rather good video graphics, made the story of a church plot to wipe out the bloodline of Jesus and Mary almost plausible.

I found myself about equally divided between appreciation of the research that went into connecting the dots, and pained amusement at the lengths to which my credulity was being stretched. Curiously, about the only connection that Dan Green didn’t draw was in a painting by Rene d’Anjou, the King of Naples and Grandmaster of the Priory of Sion, who spent his life looking for the tomb of the Magdalene. It shows a knight standing by a monument whose inscription warns against “bitter water.” The name Mary is a translation of the Hebrew, Miriam, which means “bitter water.”

If you enjoy books like The Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood, Holy Grail, you will probably find “The Murder of Mary Magdalene” quite intriguing.