The Adventures of Jimmie Dale
Frank L. Packard
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Frank Lucius Packard (February 2, 1877 – February 17, 1942) was a Canadian novelist born in Montreal, Quebec. He worked as a civil engineer on the Canadian Pacific Railway. He later wrote a series of mystery novels, the most famous of which featured a character called Jimmie Dale.
Jimmie Dale is a wealthy playboy by day, with a Harvard education and membership to New York City’s ultra-exclusive private club St. James. But at night he puts on a costume and becomes The Grey Seal, who enters businesses or homes and cracks safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, grey paper "seal" behind to mark his conquest, but never taking anything. He was just doing it for "the sheer deviltry of it" at first, but when a woman catches him, she blackmails him to war on certain crime organizations.
Jimmie Dale/The Grey Seal is often credited with greatly influencing and popularizing later pulp and comic book heroes. The foppish playboy-by-day-crimefighter-by-night routine had a precursor in The Scarlet Pimpernel, but it was Jimmie Dale that brought the idea into a contemporary setting and added the idea of a costume and mask for his secret identity, serving as a possible influence for characters like Zorro and The Shadow. He also established the concept of a hero's secret hideout or lair, The Sanctuary, a precersor of the Batcave or the Fortress of Solitude. (Summary by Wikipedia and Maire Rhode) (19 hr 0 min)
Chapters
P-1 Ch 1-A The Gray Seal | 23:22 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 1-B The Gray Seal | 26:38 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 2-A By Proxy | 18:34 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 2-B By Proxy | 19:06 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 2-C By Proxy | 30:57 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 3-A The Mother Lode | 20:46 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 3-B The Mother Lode | 21:48 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 3-C The Mother Lode | 23:38 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 4-A The Counterfeit Five | 20:58 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 4-B The Counterfeit Five | 27:20 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 4-C The Counterfeit Five | 22:35 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 5-A The Affair of the Pushcart Man | 27:40 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-1 Ch 5-B The Affair of the Pushcart Man | 35:30 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-1 Ch 6-A Devil's Work | 26:37 | Read by Julia Albath |
P-1 Ch 6-B Devil's Work | 27:57 | Read by Julia Albath |
P-1 Ch 6-C Devil's Work | 23:20 | Read by Julia Albath |
P-1 Ch 7-A The Thief | 21:36 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-1 Ch 7-B The Thief | 27:28 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-1 Ch 7-C The Thief | 24:54 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-1 Ch 8-A The Man Higher Up | 20:06 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 8-B The Man Higher Up | 28:13 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 8-C The Man Higher Up | 19:54 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-1 Ch 9-A Two Crooks and a Knave | 26:38 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 9-B Two Crooks and a Knave | 30:17 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 9-C Two Crooks and a Knave | 28:52 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 10-A The Alibi | 28:06 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 10-B The Alibi | 29:59 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 10-C The Alibi | 31:36 | Read by webround |
P-1 Ch 11-A The Stool-Pigeon | 22:53 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-1 Ch 11-B The Stool-Pigeon | 22:39 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-1 Ch 11-C The Stool-Pigeon | 24:20 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch 1 Below the Deadline | 20:17 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch 2 Call to Arms | 21:43 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch 3 The Crime Club | 28:57 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch 4 The Innocent Bystander | 19:44 | Read by Jacob Cherry |
P-2 Ch 5 On Guard | 14:07 | Read by Wyatt |
P-2 Ch 6 The Trap | 19:40 | Read by Wyatt |
P-2 Ch 7 The "Hour" | 22:38 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-2 Ch 8 The Tocsin | 16:38 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-2 Ch 9 The Tocsin's Story | 35:05 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-2 Ch 10 Silver Mag | 21:22 | Read by Maire Rhode |
P-2 Ch 11 The Magpie | 23:28 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-2 Ch 12 John Johansson--Four-Two-Eight | 29:22 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-2 Ch13 The Only Way | 19:32 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch 14 Out of the Darkness | 18:59 | Read by Roger Melin |
P-2 Ch15 Retribution | 23:48 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
P-2 Ch16 "Death to the Gray Seal!" | 21:08 | Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016) |
Reviews
Wow! Great Story!
mikezane
Each chapter is a story unto itself, linked together with the mystery of who the woman behind the exploits of the Gray Seal is. Edge of your seat stories that come to a conclusion with the revealing of the woman and how she knows so much. One reader is extremely difficult to follow, monotone and heavy accent, but most are fine. Dosh (sp?) is by far the best, he does a great job with voices. Some background noises in a few chapters, use your graphic equalizer to silence them.
Terrific
A LibriVox Listener
This is good story. Some of the narrators are hard to understand, otherwise excellent
Fabulous Story!
trail_runnr
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank Packard is a wonderful story. I found myself mesmerized in the action of the words often not wanting to stop listening. The Adventures of Jimmie Dale was a very gripping story. It is obvious to see how The Grey Seal have had a great influence on the popularity and creation of Super Heroes. The story itself is definitely five stars. A majority of the readers are five stars, but there were a couple readers that I had difficulty understanding, but the story is so engrossing that I continued on. If you like detectives, mysteries or are a fan of super heroes this is a must listen to!
Erster Zweiter
Nice story that really takes up speed at the end. However, most of the readers are below average, some outright bad. I only kept listening cause I know the second book is read by Anna Simon. Looking forward to that now.
A Bit Repetitive, But Still Good
Elf Brown
The chapters seem to be written as if they were each an episode of a serial, so there is quite a bit of repetition, but the characters and story make it a worthwhile listen.
Wow!
Gabriel
This is an amazing book! The author is brilliant! There is such intense moments one after another! Even though it is a very long book I enjoyed it all.
A LibriVox Listener
Now sharing this with my husband to hear. I love Packard and wonder why more is not said about him. Great story teller, I'm never bored!
Brett Miller
great story. some of the readers not so much. does he carry a revolver or an automatic? the author keeps changing his mind