Crooks with names such as The Wolf, The Mole, Hunchback Joe, Slimmy Jack and Birdie Lee. An opium den run by Foo Sen and his Chinese assistants. A very wealthy young man who either just puts on a black silk mask, or a complete disguise as a disreputable, drug-addicted artist, to venture into the underworld of New York’s East Side – to find and help the woman he loves. (A woman, by the way, who isn’t all that helpless, who has a sharp mind of her own, and is even better at hiding in the underworld than he is.)

The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard – new at Librivox

Talk about action-packed… No high standing literature, but good stuff to dive into on my autumn vacation. I finished it in 6 days! As well as finishing up the readings of 2 Dutch works, that I expect to come out in the next few days. I indulged myself. (And no, I did not spend the whole of my vacation in front of my computer).

In the previous book of adventures, we met Jimmie Dale, a wealthy playboy by day, who at night put on a disguise and became The Gray Seal, a daredevil entering businesses or homes and cracking safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, gray paper “seal” behind to mark his conquest. He never took anything, but just wanted the thrill of it. This had spun out of control when a mysterious woman, whom Jimmie Dale nicknames The Tocsin, caught him at it and blackmailed him into doing her bidding. On her instigation, he got involved in numerous underworld crimes, righting wrongs and protecting innocent bystanders. The Tocsin is herself in hiding from her enemies in the underworld, and the two of them barely escape with their lives when they are pursued by both the criminals and the police.

At the end of those previous adventures, Jimmie Dale thought he had left off his dealings with the underworld for good, and could settle down with the woman he loved. But now, The Tocsin has disappeared. Jimmie Dale is drawn back into the world of crime, crooks and opium dens to look for her, and The Gray Seal is resurrected.