Frank L. Packard(1877-1942)
- Writer
Canadian writer Frank L. Packard was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1877. His parents were Americans who moved to Canada. He graduated from McGill University in 1897 with a B.Sc., and the next year attended the University of Liege in Belgium for a post-graduate course. He returned to Canada later that year, moved to the US and got a job as a civil engineer.
He began his writing career in 1906, submitting stories to magazines. He had worked in maintenance shops for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and had experience as an engraver, so many of his stories had a railroad setting. He also wrote a series of detective books using the characters Jimmie Dale and Shanghai Jim, and his Jimmie Dale series--about the adventures of a daring safecracker--sold more than 2,000,000 copies.
He died at his home in Lachine, Quebec, Canada, in 1942, leaving a wife and three sons.
He began his writing career in 1906, submitting stories to magazines. He had worked in maintenance shops for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and had experience as an engraver, so many of his stories had a railroad setting. He also wrote a series of detective books using the characters Jimmie Dale and Shanghai Jim, and his Jimmie Dale series--about the adventures of a daring safecracker--sold more than 2,000,000 copies.
He died at his home in Lachine, Quebec, Canada, in 1942, leaving a wife and three sons.
