Andrew Pyper: R.I.P.

Canadian writer Andrew Pyper, whose debut novel Lost Girls launched a career of bestselling, award-winning literary thrillers, died yesterday at the age of 56.  

From the Toronto Star: 

Pyper passed away at his west-end home Friday of complications from cancer, his agent confirmed to the Toronto Star. 

The writer, who once said “I write scary stories for a living,” followed up Lost Girls — which won the Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel in 2000 — with such works as The Demonologist, The Damned, The Only Child, and The Homecoming. His books earned him international publishing deals, were translated in multiple languages and acquired for TV and film development. 

His most recent book, William, described as “psychological horror meets cyber noir,” was published this past fall under the pen name Mason Coile. Pyper took great delight in sharing the news that it had been chosen by the American Booksellers Association as well as People magazine as one of the best reads of September. 

 

“(Andrew) was an inventive, surprising, and profoundly collaborative writer, who clearly loved telling stories,” said Daphne Durham, Putnam Books’ executive editor who acquired and edited William as well as Exiles, which is to be published next year under the Coile pseudonym. 

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

Read More Here.