Andrew Pyper, Bestselling Thriller Author, Dies at 56 from Cancer Complications

Andrew Pyper, the Canadian author behind thrillers like Lost Girls and The Demonologist, has died, PEOPLE can confirm. He was 56.

The bestselling novelist died of cancer complications on Friday, Jan. 3. His final moments were spent peacefully at home with his wife of over 20 years, Heidi, and his children, Maude and Ford, according to his official death notice.

“Andrew was not done living, writing, raising his children or loving his wife but accepted his illness with tremendous courage and grace,” the obituary reads.

Putnam Books’ Daphne Durham — the executive editor who edited two of Pyper’s final books, 2024’s William and upcoming Exiles, both penned under pseudonym Mason Coile — described the late author as “an inventive, surprising, and profoundly collaborative writer, who clearly loved telling stories,” in a statement to the Toronto Star.

“Everyone loved working with Andrew because he was such a pro,” Durham told the Canadian outlet, “but he was also a delightful, warm, funny person.”

The author’s agent, Kirby Kim, echoed Durham’s sentiment, telling the Star that Pyper “had the rare ability to be able to both scare the lights out of you and move you emotionally.” And, even as his health worsened, the late novelist “was of good nature, laughed easily and made you laugh,” Kim noted.

Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada in 1968, and, according to his obituary, had a passion for writing from a young age.

“The [die] was cast at a young age — while Andrew’s classmates read comics, Andrew carried a briefcase full of New Yorker magazines and Graham Greene novels, earning him the nickname ‘the Professor’ in grade school,” the obituary reads.

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The Lost Girls author got his bachelor’s degree from Montreal’s McGill University and later, graduated from the University of Toronto with a law degree. He never practiced law, however, instead taking a “leap of faith and pursued his love of writing,” per his obituary.

On his almost-career in law, Pyper previously told the Star in that he “couldn’t imagine spending my life doing that, so I quit before I began.”

He went on to publish 14 novels, including The Only Child, The Damned and The Homecoming, which is reportedly being developed into a series or film, according to the author’s official website.

But Pyper’s proudest moments can be traced back to his personal life, according to his obituary, which reads, “If you were to ask — Andrew would tell you that his greatest accomplishments were his roles of husband and father.”

“Nothing gave Andrew more pleasure or pride than watching his children grow and thrive,” the obituary reads. “He enjoyed attending their games, tournaments, performances and graduations. Above all, he cherished time spent with family — movie nights, sharing meals, holidays, he even built a cottage with no experience (or his own tools), with the goal of creating time and place to be together.

“Maude and Ford were everything to him.”