COMING DEC. 8TH! Welcome to The Scoop, the Official Newsletter of the Carter Ross Fan Club. On behalf of the interns at BradParksBooks.com—the underpaid, overworked detainees who do all the heavy lifting around here—we hope you enjoy this inaugural issue and the many that are sure to follow. Before we begin, you may already have some questions, such as: Who the heck is Carter Ross? Carter is an investigative reporter for the fictional Newark Eagle-Examiner and the main character in a new mystery series by author Brad Parks. His first adventure, FACES OF THE GONE—which Harlan Coben calls a "terrific debut"—is due out December 8th from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur. Who is Brad Parks? He's a former reporter with The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger and The Washington Post who is now trying to hack it as an author. How did I get on this list? You must have met Brad somewhere. Think hard. Maybe he wrote a story about you. Maybe you worked/sang/played a sport with him. Maybe you're his mother (hi, Mrs. Parks). Point is, Brad got your e-mail address at some point and, unfortunately for you, kept it. So now you're on his mailing list. But my inbox is already clogged with more spam than a Monty Python film festival. Can I unsubscribe? Absolutely. Click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom and you'll never hear from us again. (Unless, of course, you really are Brad's mother, in which case you're stuck). Otherwise, you should expect to continue receiving The Scoop periodically—but probably never more than once a month. Why is this newsletter written by interns? It's the dirty little secret of American media: There have been so many buyouts and layoffs, everything is being done by interns these days. At least we at BradParksBooks.com can admit it. Whew. Glad we got that over with. And, actually, we're just about done here—nothing kills a first newsletter like too much exposition. So please accept our welcome (or our apologies). And, if you're feeling up to it, click on over to BradParksBooks.com to read book excerpts, peruse the author Q&A or meet Carter and his friends. We'll be glad you came. Sincerely, The BradParksBooks.com Interns