David Seabrook (writer)

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. 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, 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 murder
Review by David Jays of ''Jack of Jumps''
Tart vision
Review by Chris Petit of ''Jack of Jumps''
Midnight in the garden of England
Review 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 Margate
About 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