David Seabrook (19 December 1960
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire – 18 January 2009
Canterbury, Kent) was a British
crime writer and journalist.
Life
Born in 1960 at Hemel Hempstead, David was the only child of Leslie Frank Seabrook (an insurance broker) and his wife Barbara Elizabeth Daphne (Frostick). Seabrook studied English and American literature at the
University of Kent at
Canterbury gaining an
MA with a dissertation on
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
. Subsequently, he worked as a teacher of English as a foreign language in Greece. Until his death he lived alone at Westside Apartments in Canterbury. He was discovered dead in his flat by Kent police. There is unconfirmed speculation that Seabrook was murdered. However, this has never been officially established.
Career
Seabrook is known for his extensively researched books rich with literary and historical associations on previously untouched or assumedly insignificant subjects and locations.
In his book ''Jack of Jumps'' Seabrook attempts to identify
Jack the Stripper
The Hammersmith nude murders is the name of a series of six murders in West London, England, in 1964 and 1965. The victims, all prostitutes, were found undressed in or near the River Thames, leading the press to nickname the killer Jack the Stri ...
, a serial killer who murdered eight prostitutes in
West London in the early 1960s. Seabrook gives a meticulous account of the police work; however, the murderer remains unknown, although the book contains insinuations as to his identity.
''All the Devils are Here'' is Seabrook's account of Kent's unglamorous seaside towns entwined with local literary and celebrity history.
Seabrook also appeared in two films - 'fictional documentaries' - by
Chris Petit and
Iain Sinclair: 'The Cardinal and the Corpse' (1992) and 'Asylum' (2000).
At the time of his death Seabrook was working on a book about the life and mysterious suicide of the show business solicitor
David Jacobs.
Works
*''All the Devils are Here'' Granta Books (2002)
*''Jack of Jumps'' Granta Books (2006)
See also
*''
Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square''
References
External links
"He framed a dead man" Article by Johnny Sharp with picture of Seabrook
''
Time''. 8 May 1964.
Hooked on murderReview by David Jays of ''Jack of Jumps''
Tart visionReview by Chris Petit of ''Jack of Jumps''
Midnight in the garden of EnglandReview by Andy Beckett of ''All the Devils Are Here''
Review by Brian Dillon of ''All the Devils Are Here''
How TS Eliot found inspiration at MargateAbout Seabrook's account of TS Eliot in Margate
Review by Mark Sanderson of ''Jack of Jumps''
Is David Seabrook dead?Overview of Seabrook's work by Stewart Home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seabrook, David
1960 births
2009 deaths
English non-fiction crime writers
English crime fiction writers
English historical novelists
Writers from Canterbury
English male novelists
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English male writers