“Mr Carter” (real name Lord Easthampton) is a senior official of British intelligence who first meets Tommy and Tuppence in The Secret Adversary. At their first meeting, Tommy recognised him from the time he served in intelligence in the army. Carter more or less launches Tommy and Tuppence on what would turn out to be a lifetime involvement with intelligence by employing them as private agents with the mission of finding Jane Finn, an American woman who survived the sinking of the Lusitania and then mysteriously disappeared. From this first mission, Carter would serve as their "handler" in several subsequent adventures which are recounted in Partners in Crime.
He has a cousin who lives on 27 Carshalton Gardens, London. Sometimes he borrows her house when he's working “on strictly unofficial lines”.
Mr Carter is described as being a "tall man with a lean hawklike face and a tired manner". There is something "magnetic" about his personality.
