Carter, Nick, fictional detective character in dime novels said to have been created by J. R. Coryell in the 1880s. The firm of Street & Smith, New York City, published over 1,000 stories about Nick Carter, written variously by F. V. R. Dey, E. T. Sawyer, G. C. Jenks, and others. The name Nicholas Carter was used as a pseudonym by many authors of dime novels.