Urgent: Carter Ross Needs Your Help!

He cruised through the first three rounds, surviving a minor scare against a surprisingly stubborn Amanda Pepper in the Sweet 16. In the Elite Eight, he paddled 11-year-old Flavia de Luce in a come-from-behind effort that stamped him as the tournament dark horse. Then, in the semifinals, he stunned Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, whose worldwide sales of 40 million beat his sales figures by approximately 40 million (with rounding).

Now Carter Ross has arrived at a place few thought he would reach:

The finals of the World's Favorite Amateur Sleuth contest, where he'll face off against Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

That Carter has survived to the end of this single-elimination, NCAA-style tournament while other legends have fallen—Nancy Drew, Jack Reacher and Stephanie Plum among them—is a tribute to his pluck, his resolve and, of course, to us.

Yes, the BradParksBooks.com Interns have been stumping hard for Carter, leading a grassroots, guerilla-style campaign to put him over the top (our motto: Vote Early! Vote Often! Vote From Multiple IP Addresses!). Brad has done his part, pledging to wear silly hats on his Twitter account as long as Carter keeps winning.

But now that he's made it to the finals against this formidable opponent, we started to worry that cunning, guile and silly hats wouldn't be enough.

"We need something big," said Sarah, the smart intern, "something that will really make Carter stand out."

"Hey guys..." Maggie, the clueless intern, tried to interrupt, but no one was paying attention to her.

"Yes! Something big!" said Zach, the silly intern. "What are you thinking? We leak a sex tape?"

"Not gonna work," said Peter, the slothful intern. "Carter is two books into this series and still hasn't gotten laid. Everyone will know it's a fraud."

"Hey guys..." Maggie said again.

"I got it!" Zach shouted. "We'll fake Brad's death! We could pose him in a casket, put out an obituary and everything. It'll be genius! We'd lock down the sympathy vote."

"But Stieg Larsson is dead, and it didn't do that tattoo chick much good in the semis," Sarah pointed out. "Carter trounced her anyway."

"So, what, we go negative?" Zach asked. "Run a smear campaign? I always did think Miss Marple was a nasty old bag..."

"GUYS!" Maggie said, finally getting everyone's attention by standing on a chair. "Let's just send out a newsletter. I mean, it's not like Agatha Christie can do that. From what I hear, she doesn't even have interns."

Yeah, it turns out Maggie makes a good point now and then. So please go to this link...

... and register your vote for Carter Ross as the World's Favorite Amateur Sleuth. And when you're done, don't be shy about joining the movement and sharing the link with your friends. After all, it's not like Agatha Christie is going to thank you for it. But Brad will!

Thanks From Campaign Headquarters,

The BradParksBooks.com Interns