How YOU can avoid being a victim of crime: Always face the door in a pub and never leave your house empty while on holiday... IAN RANKIN and Britain's top crime writers reveal their top lessons on keeping yourself safe

They plot the most ingenious, twisty, heart-thudding stories. And many of us will be reading their books on the beach this summer. But what has a life of crime-writing taught some of Britain’s bestselling authors about how to keep safe - at home and away?

From reducing the risk of home burglary when you park your car at the airport to avoiding con artists at the hotel bar, five blockbusting novelists offer crucial top tips for a crime-free summer…

Ian Rankin writes the beloved Edinburgh-set Inspector Rebus series. His latest book is Midnight And Blue.

I’m always very aware of my surroundings, checking to see who’s behind me – are they following me? That’s why I don’t look at my phone while I’m walking and never wear headphones. Any environment can suddenly become hostile (there’s also less likelihood of bumping into something or getting hit by a car).

I’ll always put the deadlock on, whether at home or in a hotel, and the chain too, if there is one. My wife laughs at me but then she’s not the one with a criminal mind.

If I’m in a pub, I’ll try to face the door. This is something police officers learn – you want as much notice as possible if someone walks in who might wish you ill.

I really don’t trust the online world. I don’t do Internet banking and always check that innocent-seeming e-mails haven’t been sent from dodgy addresses. It might look like it comes from your bank, but close inspection of the sender’s details often says otherwise.

CL Taylor is the author of 11 chart-topping psychological thrillers. Her latest is It’s Always The Husband.

I’m very big on online safety. My previous book Every Move You Make was about four victims of stalking, and I did draw on personal experience of being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. I don’t think people realise quite how many little clues to their life and their location they leave online; the kind of digital mark someone could follow if they wanted to.

Do not post photos to public social media that could help trace your location or routine. If you walk your dog in a certain park at a certain time, for example, someone could potentially use that information. With Google reverse image search, it’s quite easy to locate places just from a single photograph – and you definitely do not want to be posting photos publicly that identify your house from the outside, your street, or back garden.

Be really careful to not inadvertently leak information that you wouldn’t want public, such as a photo of your dog with their tag showing your full surname, address or phone number. I’ve actually done that myself by mistake. A reader messaged me and said, ‘You do realise we can all see your phone number?’ I’ve never taken a photo down so quickly.

Lock down your Facebook information. Even if you can’t see somebody’s posts, you can glean quite a lot if someone has left their Friends list open. If one of those Friends has shared photos showing locations, someone could use that information in ways you might not want.

Never share holiday photos while still away, it’s like a putting a sign up for burglars that your house is empty.

Remove yourself from the electoral roll. I find it frankly terrifying that there are sites to which you could pay a small fee to find out where somebody lives.

People reveal a lot on Instagram. That’s how Kim Kardashian got robbed; she left so many clues about where she was, where she was staying, and what she had that was worth stealing.

Mark Billingham is an actor and crime writer, best known for his internationally bestselling Tom Thorne detective series. His latest novel is What The Night Brings.

I’d love to tell you that the things I worry about are based on what I’ve learned from researching my novels, but they’re actually based more closely on bad stuff that’s happened to me, which has made me wary.

I have learned that you can never be 100 per cent safe. In the late 1990s, I was beaten up and held hostage in a Manchester hotel room. My writing-partner at the time and I were working on a script for the next day and had ordered room service. When the door went, I just assumed it was someone to collect the tray and opened the door. But it was three guys in balaclavas, who smacked us around, tied us up and put bags over our heads.

We were held there for about three hours, while they used our stolen bank cards. That experience created a kind of hyper-vigilance, which has faded over the years, but I do still literally jump at my own shadow. I have a mild form of PTSD, where I startle at loud noises.

I don’t want to sound like ‘whatever you do people, don’t relax!’ But in a hotel room, I will not open the door without a good look through the spy hole. I will always double-lock doors at night. I’m sure most people check-in and wonder how comfortable the bed will be, whereas I will be checking out the lock situation and nearest exits.

Be vigilant; the last thing you expect to happen can happen, which is a fairly awful lesson to learn and to pass on, but you should always be aware of that possibility, and never think you are completely immune to violence or to crime.

Not that long ago I had my drink spiked at a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. I’d got chatting to what seemed a friendly, middle-aged couple, who then started behaving oddly. I went outside to vape – I’ve stopped now – and could barely walk; I can still recall that shock of feeling utterly helpless. I believe the woman must have slipped something into the local beer she’d recommended. Luckily the barman called a golf-cart that got me to my room incredibly quickly, otherwise I believe they would have ‘helped me’ there and robbed me.

Never answer a phone call from a number you don’t recognise. Cyber criminals once accessed my accounts and stole a lot of money (which I got back). I still don’t know how, but I’ve learned that even if you pick up the phone and confirm your name, you’ve probably given them enough.

Cyber crime and hacking are not victimless crimes. They have brought down companies, held governments hostage and ruined ordinary peoples’ lives.

Louise Candlish is the bestselling author of Our Holiday And Our House, which became a hit ITV drama. Her new book, A Neighbour’s Guide To Murder, is out now.

As a crime writer, but also just as a jaded citizen, I’m suspicious of almost everything. I write a lot about fraud. Understanding the speed with which criminals create new scams has made me super-cautious about any communication I’m not actively expecting.

After researching conveyancing fraud for Our House, in which a house is sold apparently without the owner’s consent, I immediately signed up to the Land Registry alerts service, which notifies you of any alterations to your deeds. When next attempting a house purchase or sale, I would stick to the old-fashioned means of meeting a conveyancing solicitor in-person rather than doing it all online and assuming the best. People have lost vast amounts of money by sending deposits online to scammers posing as solicitors.

In terms of protecting property, plotting Our Holiday, about second home-owners with enemies, made me more safety-conscious. Never leave keys in plain sight through a window. A pristine, white-painted boundary wall might attract graffiti in a way that some prickly planting would not. Avoid a low garden wall that invites people to sit on it. You have to remember that not all crime involves long-game scams – sometimes, especially during a cost-of-living crisis, people are just desperate and opportunistic.

Some self-protective measures are very new. Be very careful about the language you use online or being too trigger-happy on WhatsApp groups, for example. A throwaway line can get you into deep water – and it’s low-hanging fruit for the police. In my current book A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder, one of my characters comes a cropper after being accused of slander and libel.

Going on holiday? Be careful who knows about it. A friend in Australia was recently a victim of crime after thieves broke into the car he had parked at the airport, found his home address on forms in the glove compartment, then burgled his house. The obvious lesson here is to make sure there’s no identifying info in your car. The thieves targeted others too.

Don’t take all your valuables out at once when leaving a hotel or holiday rental. Just take one card to use that day and leave most things in the safe.

I am vigilant about mugging, because that’s the one I fear most. If I am taking out my phone in public, I stand with my back to a wall because phone snatchers will always come up behind you.

Adele Parks has sold more than five million books. Her 25th novel, A Beautiful Mess, comes out on August 28.

Anyone looking at my computer’s search history would be horrified. Things I have learned for my novels include how to get rid of a body and how to drug someone of a certain weight and size. Last year I went on a Cheltenham Book Festival Cruise with lots of crime writers. You can imagine the dark jokes about disposing of bodies overboard. We got a kitchen tour, and everyone was peering into these huge trunk freezers with interest.

Read More

A secret will come back to bite you. My new novel A Beautiful Mess is about Connie - featured in my debut novel Playing Away - who made a mistake 25 years ago. Obviously, we all have some secrets, but the effort to protect one can make a person vulnerable to blackmail or revenge, or even push them into committing a crime.

Never meet anybody in a collision – whether of trolleys in the supermarket, elbows on the pavement or your car - with aggression. You might be a hormonal, hot woman, but he might be a knife-wielding psychopath.

Trust your instincts; if something seems too good to be true (a person, a gift, a job offer, or offer of any kind), it probably is. Sad but true.

In general, I think ‘what if’ all the time - even when I’m on holiday and supposed to be relaxed. If I am alone in a lift and someone else gets in, I will be wondering ‘what if he’s an absolute psycho?’ My husband says that is pretty odd.

In this recent spell of hot weather, I have been paranoid about checking windows are closed before going to bed.

When we go away, we never leave our house empty. That is mainly because we have pets, but I suspect it is also because I am neurotic. I would rather have someone using my things and poking around than worrying about the house having been left empty.