Audiobook · read by volunteers
Adventures of Jimmie Dale
Frank L. Packard (1877–1942)
Read by Maire Rhode, Lars Rolander (1942-2016), Julia Albath, webround, Roger Melin, Jacob Cherry, Wyatt · 47 chapters · 19 h 00
About the book
Jimmie Dale is a wealthy young man about town, known for his easy manners and idle days. But at night he becomes the Gray Seal, a mysterious safe-cracker who steals from the corrupt and the guilty, leaving behind a tiny gray diamond-shaped mark. No one knows who he is, and the police are baffled. In this series of linked adventures, Jimmie moves between two identities, and the strain of his secret life grows with each exploit. A mysterious woman who sends him instructions, a detective who is always close behind him and a gallery of criminals keep the story lively. Frank L. Packard created a hero who is both gentleman and outlaw, and the book is full of tension and ingenuity. Each episode is a small adventure, so you can dip in at any point.
Introduction
Frank Lucius Packard was born in Montreal in 1877 and died in 1942. A civil engineer by training, he worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway before turning to fiction, and he became one of the best-known writers of adventure and mystery stories in North America. His most famous character is Jimmie Dale, who first appeared in magazine stories in 1914 and 1915.
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale was published in 1917 and gathers the early tales into a single volume. It belongs to the tradition of the gentleman thief, a type popular in the early twentieth century, who is a criminal in the eyes of the law but a hero in the eyes of the reader. Packard wrote in a swift, direct style, and the stories are full of disguises, underworld hideouts and last-minute escapes. They helped pave the way for later masked heroes of pulp fiction and film.
This recording has forty-seven sections, grouped into parts, and runs for about nineteen hours. It is read by several LibriVox volunteers. It is a long and generous listen, and the episodic structure means that it can be enjoyed in small portions. For anyone with a taste for old-fashioned adventure, secret identities and the shadowy streets of New York, this is a rewarding find.
The format of linked episodes gives the book a pleasing rhythm, and each adventure adds something to the larger mystery of the hero’s identity. Packard was a skilful constructor of plots, and he often saves a surprise for the very last lines of a chapter. Listeners who enjoy serial adventure will find it hard to stop.
Public domain
Frank L. Packard died in 1942: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text