author
Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
1877–1942
A Canadian storyteller of mystery, adventure, and railroad drama, he is best remembered for creating the gentleman thief-detective Jimmie Dale, also known as the Gray Seal. His fast-moving plots and vivid atmosphere made him a popular magazine and novel writer in the early 20th century.
13 Audiobooks
The Miracle Man
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
Doors of the Night
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
From Now On
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
On the Iron at Big Cloud
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Night Operator
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The White Moll
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Sin That Was His
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Belovéd Traitor
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Wire Devils
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
The Four Stragglers
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
Pawned
by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
About the author
Born in Montreal on February 2, 1877, Frank Lucius Packard studied at McGill University and at the Université de Liège's Institut Montefiore. He worked for many years as a civil engineer with the Canadian Pacific Railway, and that experience fed directly into his early railroad fiction.
Packard went on to become a prolific novelist and short-story writer, moving from railroad tales into mystery and adventure fiction. His best-known creation was Jimmie Dale, the clever society man and secret adventurer called the Gray Seal, a character who helped make Packard a familiar name to popular-fiction readers.
Critics have noted that his stories are especially strong on atmosphere, with carefully researched details that brought crime, danger, and city life vividly onto the page. He died in Lachine, Quebec, on February 17, 1942, but his work remains closely tied to the great age of magazine serials and classic popular suspense.