Characters in "Carter Beats The Devil"
- Charles Carter (Carter the Great): Title character, American stage magician, based on Charles Joseph Carter whose biography was written by Mike Caveney.
- James Carter: Carter The Great's younger brother and business manager.
- President Warren G. Harding: Real life President of the United States who is the victim of an apparent assassination plot.
- Agent Jack Griffin: Secret Service Agent and veteran who failed to prevent the assassination of President William McKinley and perhaps also of President Harding.
- Harry Houdini: Real life escape artist and magician who bestows the title "Carter The Great" on Charles Carter.
- Mysterioso: Carter's great rival, a magician who makes an enemy of Houdini and later returns seeking revenge.
- (Sarah) Annabelle Bernhardt: Assistant to Mysterioso and later Carter, also Carter's love interest and first wife.
- Borax Smith, "the richest man alive": Real life business magnate Francis Marion Smith who pays Carter for his first performance and assists both Carter and Phoebe Kyle.
- Phoebe Kyle: Carter's love interest for much of the novel and eventually second wife. Blinded in a fire, but saved by Borax Smith.
- Max Friz: In real life the founder of BMW, who presents Carter with a motorcycle for publicity purposes.
- Agents Hollis, O'Brien and Stutz: Secret Service agents who are enemies of both Carter and Agent Griffin.
- Olive White: Librarian who assists Agent Jack Griffin.
- Captain Tulang: Indonesian pirate who takes Carter's company captive and robs them. Tulang is named for Tulang Island in the Philippine municipality of San Francisco. Much of the book is set in the somewhat more famous city of San Francisco, California.
- Philo Farnsworth: Real life inventor of electronic television and also of the fusor fusion device.
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