Kay Hooper passed away on Sunday, October 4, 2026.
Kay's family shares the news of her recent passing.
'We know how much Kay is admired and adored within both the writing and the reading communities and know you'll miss her as much as we will. Today we just want you all to know how very important you were to Kay. Her passion was writing, but her driving force was all of you.
At this time there are no service plans to announce but we know that her wish would be that any honorary acts or remembrance from fans or friends would be in the form of donations made to your own local bookstore or pet shelter.
That's what she would have wanted.'
From the PadgettKing memorial site:
Kay was born (1957) in Merced County, California to Martha and James Hooper. Her father, an Air Force employee, was stationed in the base hospital. James, Martha, and Kay lived on the base. Shortly after Kay's birth, the family moved back to North Carolina where she was raised and went to school. Her two younger siblings were born in North Carolina.
Kay loved to foster cats and kittens for the Community Pet Center, a non-profit rescue organization on whose board she also has served.
Her first book, entitled The Lady Thief, was published in 1981 and she has since gone on to publish over 70 books. She made the New York Times Best Sellers List in 2000 with her book Stealing Shadows and was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Original P.I. Paperback for House of Cards, part of The Bishop Series, in 1992.
She is survived by her brother, Jimmy Hooper and wife Sonja of Forest City, her sister, Linda Parks of Boiling Springs, SC, as well as a number of nieces, nephews, and friends that loved her.
