The Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard, 1917

 

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This title was also published in 1929 in Collier's Front Page Mystery series.

About the author: Frank L. Packard (1877 - 1942) was born in Montreal, Quebec. As a young man he worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. His experiences working on the railroad led to his writing many railroad stories, then to a series of mystery novels, the most famous of which featured a character called Jimmie Dale. Several of his novels were made into films. (Wikipedia)

Major characters:

Our protagonist has three distinct identities:

Jimmie Dale - millionaire, bachelor, and man-about-town

Larry the Bat - a Bowery dope fiend

The Gray Seal - a benevolent safecracker

Jason, Jimmie Dale's butler
Benson, Jimmie Dale's chauffeur

Herman Carruthers, managing editor of The Morning News-Argus

Marie LaSalle, a.k.a "she",  'The Tocsin', and "Silver Mag"

Inspector Clayton

Locale: New York City

Synopsis: Millionaire Jimmie Dale inherited a fortune from his father, president of a safe manufacturer. Not only did he inherit his millions, but also the knowledge of cracking safes. He lives in a luxury apartment on Riverside Drive, along with butler Jason and chauffeur Benson. He spends his leisure time at the posh St. James Club, many times with his friend Herman Carruthers, managing editor of The Morning News-Argus.

Dale has a secret identity, that of Larry the Bat, a  dope fiend. He maintains a shabby tenement room, 'The Sanctuary', in the Bowery, where he changes into Larry the Bat, in order to move around and infiltrate the seamier side of New York City.

His motive is to right wrongs, many times outside the law. Whether as Dale or Larry the Bat, he leaves a calling card at the scene of his "crimes": a small grey diamond-shaped label (seen held in tweezers in the cover above) which gives him the name of The Gray Seal, always wanted by the police.

Review: I enjoy Packard's railroad adventure books, but his mysteries are quite ... the only word I can think of is 'dense'. High page counts (this one has 468), repetitive phrases throughout, lots of characters - each having two, three, or four nicknames. A flood of exclamation points, and a constant barrage of rhetorical questions; so the reader doesn't forget all the loose ends pouring out of the fire hose:

A good editor could have cut this book in half without losing anything. I did resort to skimming ... the first sentence of each paragraph will get you through it just fine.

I do see a similarity to The Saint here, in Dale's  quest to right wrongs outside the law; as well as Batman, with a secret identity, hideout, and faithful butler (although this butler is unaware of his secret identity). 

The book has two major parts. In Part One, each chapter is self-contained, contains some series characters, and follows a consistent formula:

1. The mysterious woman delivers an envelope with instructions
2. Dale goes to The Sanctuary in the Bowery and changes to Larry the Bat
3. Larry the Bat skulks around the bars and waterfront to get information
4. Dale cracks a safe to obtain some essential evidence, leaving a gray seal behind
5. A twist ending rewards a victim and punishes an evildoer

In Part Two, Jimmie learns the identity of the mysterious woman, and together they seek to tie up all the loose ends.