The White Moll
Frank L. Packard
Read by Rowdy Delaney
Frank Lucius Packard (February 2, 1877 – February 17, 1942) born in Montreal, Quebec, was a Canadian novelist. Packard is credited with bridging the gap from the “cozy” style mysteries to the more gritty, hard-boiled style of such writers as Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler. Packard also wrote a series of novels, beginning in 1917, featuring Jimmie Dale. A wealthy playboy by day, at night, Jimmie becomes a crimefighter “The Gray Seal” complete with mask and secret hide-out, “The Sanctuary”. This character certainly influenced later crime-fighting characters such as Batman and The Shadow.
In The White Moll (1920) Rhoda Gray, “The White Moll”, an angel of mercy who spends her time helping the poor in the slums of New York City, is drawn into the criminal world when she attempts to help Gypsy Nan, who is not what she seems. Accused of a crime and on the run from the police, she must battle the most nefarious criminal gang in the New York underworld to prove her innocence. Populated by such characters as Pierre Dangler, the Pug, Pinkie Bonn, Skeeny, the Sparrow and above all “the Adventurer”, this story contains shoot-outs, car chases, adventure and enough suspense and deception to satisfy the most avid mystery lover. (Summary by Rowdy Delaney) (8 hr 44 min)
Chapters
Night in the Underworld | 24:51 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Seven-Three-Nine | 28:55 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Alias Gypsy Nan | 28:06 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Adventurer | 18:20 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
A Second Visitor | 24:54 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Rendezvous | 22:20 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Fellow Thieves | 30:40 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Code Message | 28:49 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Room Number Eleven | 21:08 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
On The Brink | 33:09 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Some of the Lesser Breed | 27:51 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Crooks vs Crooks | 27:30 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Door Across The Hall | 21:30 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Lame Man | 19:15 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
In The Council Chamber | 21:26 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Secret Panel | 26:52 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Silver Sphinx | 16:31 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Old Shed | 34:29 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Bread Upon The Waters | 26:16 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Lone Hand | 16:24 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
The Reckoning | 25:11 | Read by Rowdy Delaney |
Reviews
Heart-Pounding Action!
TwinkieToes
This story takes you from one action scene to another, with enough breathing time in between to recover and prepare for the next exciting event. Very fun! The reader doesn't emote, but does a nice, straight reading. The action and intensity comes through without unnecessary hamming. Nicely done! (The intros on these are from before they were shortened for solos. They run about 25-30 seconds, so it's safe for a listener to forward 20 seconds into the recording to shorten the redundancy a bit.) Thank you, Rowdy!
An Agent of Disguise
Dangerous Journeymann
Great story, if a bit confusing, it certainly makes up for it with some charming romance. Our Heroine, is creative, cunning and courageous. She has an admirer, that doesn't meet with her moral compass, yet finds herself drawn to him nonetheless... Our LibriVox Volunteer doesn't do much in the way of "voicing" the characters, she is however an excellent narrator/reader, and I enjoyed every moment of this book.
A LibriVox Listener
I loved this book. So glad I found out about Packard!! I'm reading or should I say listening to his other book. It's fun, sharp and smooth all the things I love about a story!! Thanks volunteers for reading this one!!
elm
sometimes amusing but a bit overwrought Tale of Noir do good ism
the white moll
A LibriVox Listener
Good story with a really good female reader.
Busby
Well read, but one of Packard’s weaker novels.
Exciting
Nancy JD Lamport
This book was riveting until the end.
Brett Miller
Packard's best work. and remarkably well read