Carl Reiter

In the novel Murder in Mesopotamia, Carl Reiter is a young man of 28, from Chicago. He is at his first year at the dig at Tell Yarimjah. He is a photographer and takes photos of finds and develops plates.

Carl is described as a "stout, fair young man with glasses". His hair is long and curly, and he has very round blue eyes. Nurse Leatheran is of the opinion that he looks "just a little like a pig".

He is shy, sensitive, and clumsy. He describes himself as always saying the wrong thing, and upsetting water jugs. He says that he was always unlucky when he tried to do anything for Louise Leidner, and that he annoyed her with his clumsiness. This was unintentional, as he would have done anything for her.

Louise had been rather cruel to Carl, saying sarcastic things, and inserting gibes and pricks. Poirot advises Carl that he should behave like a man, and not grovel. He says that it is against Nature for a man to grovel, and that women and Nature have almost exactly the same reactions.