Frank L. Packard was born in Montreal, Quebec and educated at McGill University and the University of Liège.

[1] 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.

Frank Packard died in 1942 in Lachine, Quebec and was buried in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.