Last year, I read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, a stunning account of a lifelong pursuit of the prolific Golden State Killer.

This particular killer’s chilling modus operandi allegedly involved stacking china upon men’s backs while he assaulted their wives in another room, warning that if he heard the china fall, everybody in the house would die. Joseph James DeAngelo, who is suspected of being the Golden State Killer, was recently found to have been a police officer. Reading McNamara’s descriptions of his methods while my flatmate was away caused me to start thinking about my own movements, especially in terms of what a predator outside would see.

Could my pattern of light use, or the way I kept checking my locks, signal to someone watching in the dark that I was a woman at home alone? I altered my behaviour, kept more weapons in my room, and planned the different ways I might escape from a killer or, at the very least, call for help.

From podcasts to documentaries, why are we all so obsessed with true crime?