Nick Carter (1964–1990 novel series)

Nick Carter is a series of spy adventures published from 1964 until 1990, first by Award Books, then by Ace Books, and finally by Jove Books. At least 261 novels were published. The character is an update of a pulp fiction private detective named Nick Carter, first published in 1886. Carter is described as a "Killmaster" in this series, and that term is used to distinguish this series from other Nick Carter runs.
No actual author is credited for the books, with the Nick Carter name being used as a house pseudonym. Volumes varied between first-person and third-person narratives. Authors known to have contributed entries in the series are Michael Avallone, Valerie Moolman, Manning Lee Stokes, Dennis Lynds, Gayle Lynds, Robert J. Randisi, David Hagberg, and Martin Cruz Smith. The name Nick Carter was acknowledged by the series as having been inspired by the early 20th century pulp fiction detective of the same name in the 100th Killmaster volume which included an essay on the earlier Nick Carter and included a Nick Carter detective short story alongside a Killmaster adventure.
The title character of the series serves as Agent N3 of AXE, a fictional spy agency for the United States government. The novels are similar to the literary James Bond novels—low on gadgets, high on action. Sexual encounters in particular are described in detail.

The character

The definitive description of Nicholas J. Huntington Carter is given in the first novel in the series, Run, Spy, Run. Carter is tall, over 6ft, lean and handsome with a classic profile and magnificently muscled body. He has wide-set steel gray eyes that are icy, cruel and dangerous. He is hard-faced, with a firm straight mouth, laugh-lines around the eyes, and a firm cleft chin. His hair is thick and dark. He has a small tattoo of a blue axe on the inside right lower arm near the elbow—the ultimate ID for an AXE agent. At least one novel states that the tattoo glows in the dark. Carter also has a knife scar on the shoulder, a shrapnel scar on the right thigh. He has a sixth sense for danger.
Carter served as a soldier in World War II, then with the OSS, before he joined his current employer AXE.
Carter practices yoga for at least 15 minutes a day. Carter has a prodigious ability for learning foreign languages. He is fluent in English, Cantonese, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Putonghua, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish and Vietnamese. He has basic skills in Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Romansch, Swahili, and Turkish. In the early novels, Carter often assumes a number of elaborate disguises in order to execute his missions.

Weapons and paraphernalia

Nick Carter uses three main weapons during the course of the series, all of which are named, and have histories. The gun, Wilhelmina, is a stripped-down German Luger. In the earliest stories, Carter got the gun off a German officer during a harrowing mission during World War II. Later stories state that he has had a series of Lugers, all named Wilhelmina. The knife, Hugo, is a pearl-handled 400-year-old stiletto crafted by Benvenuto Cellini. The blade retracts into the handle, and the knife is worn on a special sheath on the wrist, designed to release it into the user's hand with a simple muscle contraction. The third member of the triad is Pierre, a poison gas bomb, which is a small egg-shaped device, usually carried in a pocket but sometimes as a "third testicle" at his scrotum. Activated with a simple twist, it would, within seconds, kill anyone or anything that breathed its potassium cyanide, an odorless and colorless gas.
Carter often takes with him other weapons as the mission demands. These have included:

Cousin of Pierre: a smaller version of Pierre the poison gas bomb that can be concealed even more easily—described in The China Doll;
Fang: a poison-tipped needle worn on a concealed index finger cap described in Saigon;
Pepito: a non-lethal stun grenade used in Checkmate in Rio.
Tiny Tim: a nuclear grenade "containing half a grain of sand of fissionable matter" used in Istanbul and The Red Guard
10,000-watt laser pistol used in Hanoi
Cigarette lighter that fires drugged darts used in Hanoi
Exploding cigars used in Hanoi

Carter has used a variety of equipment in the novels, most of which have nicknames. These have included:

Antonio Moreno: a lifelike facemask made of a latex substance called Lastotex ;
Gladstone: a rhino hide suitcase with multiple concealed compartments;
Oscar Johnson: a small radio transmitter ;
Quantity K: a powerful acid strong enough to destroy evidence/documents;
Laser torch: for burning through door locks used in The Weapon of Night;
Singing Sam: a radio receiver concealed in electric razor/electric toothbrush used in Istanbul;
Wristwatch with UHF transmitter used in Hanoi;
Triple X tablet: a universal poison antidote and pep pill used in Hanoi;
Talkalot: a scopolamine-like truth drug used in Danger Key;
Unnamed injectable knockout drug requiring subsequent injection of antidote to regain consciousness used in The Weapon of Night;
Store: an injectable drug that induces a week-long state of suspended animation used in ''Peking & The Tulip Affair''
AXE

The agency Carter works for is described as being smaller and far more secret than the CIA, mostly concerned with assassinations. In the first novel of the series, Run, Spy, Run, AXE is described as "the trouble-shooting arm of the US secret services". AXE headquarters are located in the 6th floor offices of a building in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC under the cover of the Amalgamated Press and Wire Service. AXE is purported to contain several different departments with specific functions including Editing —headed by Geoffrey Poindexter—which, among other things, creates false biographies for agents and provides appropriate props ; Documents—whose role is to plant stories in the media to support specific activities and create false identification and travel documents; Records—which provides background information on suspects; and Operations—which provides logistic support for specific missions. AXE has a branch office near Columbus Circle, New York City and affiliate offices in countries around the world.
Agents are given code designations; Carter's N3, which has at least once been stated as standing for Number three, identifies him as one of the elite Killmasters. It has been stated in some novels that there are four Killmasters in AXE, with Carter the most senior. The meaning of the code N3 is described differently in different novels—sometimes it is Carter's personal designation, other times it is considered a rank, with N1 being the highest, while in other novels we are told that Carter is the third Killmaster to have worked for AXE, with both his predecessors having been killed in action.

David Hawk, described in early novels as looking a lot like Uncle Sam, is the head of AXE and Carter's personal boss.
Della Stokes, Hawk's personal secretary, is a character similar to Bond's Miss Moneypenny—flirtatious but serious.
Ginger Bateman is Hawk's personal secretary in later novels.
Geoffrey Poindexter, AXE's equivalent to Q, runs the Special Effects and Editing department; in charge of weapons, gadgets, disguises, and papers.
AXE agents

In the first novel in the series, AXE is described as comprising 24 agents. They are identified by alpha-numeric code. The following agents/codes have been described:

code	name	book	date
A2	unnamed	Hanoi	1966
A4	unnamed	Fraulein Spy	1964 October
A7	Alec Greenberg; based in AXE's London office	The Weapon of Night	1967
A12	using pseudonym "Alfred"	Fraulein Spy	1964 October
A24	unnamed	Run, Spy, Run	1964 February
B5	unnamed	Hanoi	1966
B12	unnamed, but nicknamed "Vitamin"	Fraulein Spy	1964 October
C4	unnamed	Fraulein Spy	1964 October
D5	Dan Eiger	based in Iraq, killed in The Weapon of Night	1967
E14	Red Turner	A Bullet for Fidel	1965 March
H19	Hakim Sadek, Egyptian policeman and academic	The Weapon of Night	1967
K7	unnamed	Run, Spy, Run	1964 February
J2	unnamed; briefs Carter on his trip to Japan	The China Doll	1964 April
J20	Jean Paul Turnier	The Terrible Ones	1966 May
L32	Hank Peterson	Operation Moon Rocket	1968
N1	unnamed	stated killed in The Red Guard	1967
N1	unnamed	stated killed in Temple of Fear	1968
N1	Stuart Hample	The Peking Dossier	1975
N1	David Hawk	in Trouble in Paradise	1978
N1	Theodore Salonikos	dies in Hide And Go Die	1983
N2	unnamed	stated killed in The Red Guard	1967
N2	unnamed	stated killed in Temple of Fear	1968
N3	Nick Carter	-	-
N4	unnamed	stated killed in Temple of Fear	1968
N5	unnamed; an inexperienced agent	Temple of Fear	1968
N5	McLaughlin	Dr. Death	1975
N6	Joe Banks	stated dead in Six Bloody Summer Days	1975
N6 or N7	Tom Boxer	Macao	1969
N7	Clay Vincent	Agent Counter-Agent	1973
N7	unnamed	stated dead in Hide And Go Die	1983
N12	John Sparks	Under the Wall	1978
N12	unnamed	stated dead in Hide And Go Die	1983
N17	Dennis Gordon	dies in The Golden Bull	1981
N17	Bill Qualley	Hide And Go Die	1983
N30	Kiki Pederson	dies in Trouble in Paradise	1978
N86	Sean Singer	recruited in Hide And Go Die	1983
N92	Penelope Taylor	knife trained by N86 in Ruby Red Death	1990
P3	David Trainor	murdered in A Bullet for Fidel	1965 March
P4	unnamed, described as a mole in the Kremlin	Safari for Spies	1964 August
P21	Martha Ryerson	Rhodesia	1968
Q7	Ellie Harmon	Hanoi	1966
Z4	Zeke, works in the AXE Psycho Lab	Hanoi	1966

Nick Carter (1964–1990 novel series)

The character

Weapons and paraphernalia

AXE

AXE agents