Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard

Born in Montreal in 1877, Frank Lucius Packard was educated at McGill University and the University of Liège. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and that background fed directly into the atmosphere and detail of many of his stories.

Packard became widely known for his crime and adventure fiction, especially the Jimmie Dale tales. His work mixed mystery, action, disguises, secret identities, and underworld intrigue in a way that made him a popular storyteller of his era.

He died in Lachine, Quebec, in 1942. Though he is less widely remembered today than some of his contemporaries, his fiction remains an important part of early popular thriller writing.