'It’s What I Write About:' Crime Author Thwarts Invasion Of His Calabasas Home: Reports

CALABASAS, CA — A best-selling crime author says he may have thwarted an attempted burglary of his Calabasas home last week when he called police after seeing four climb up a steep hill and into his yard, according to reports.

Lee Goldberg, whose novels including "Lost Hills" are set in the Calabasas area, told ABC 7 that the attempted burglary happened just after 9 p.m. Thursday outside his home in Westridge on Park Granada.

His motion sensors went off, sending an alert to his iPad, where he saw video of the people wearing black hoodies and gloves crawling through bushes to enter his yard, KTLA reported.

"My daughter described that footage as like a scene from 'The Walking Dead,' like zombies squirming into your house. She saw these guys crab-walking through the side of our hill, faceless and she knew they meant bad things for us," Goldberg told ABC 7. "She was terrified."

Goldberg says the intruders went back down the hill as he called 911 and turned on his outdoor lights, according to reports.

“It’s very unsettling. It’s what I write about, this stuff, and I imagine it, but I don’t think it would happen to me,” Goldberg told KTLA.

Goldberg has published a large volume of crime novels, including a series following a Los Angeles County Sheriff's detective. In "Gated Prey," the book's deputies run a 24/7 sting inside a guard-gated Calabasas neighborhood in an effort to catch violent home invaders who had been terrorizing the community.

You can see Goldberg's home security footage of the real-life intruders at ABC 7.