Best known for his Jimmie Dale series of books, which have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, Frank L. Packard first publishedThe Wire Devilsin 1918. A "wire thriller" that uses the booming railroads and telegraph lines of the old West as its backdrop for fast-paced adventure,The Wire Devilsfollows a criminal gang of the same name who hijack a railroad's telegraph lines to glean information about profitable shipments. But foiling them again and again is the Hawk, the outlaw hero who robs from the robbers and is ultimately on the side of law and order.
Combining elements from dime-store novels and Packard's own experience on the rails,The Wire Devilsis at once a hybrid western and a thriller still worth reading nearly a century after it was written.