TORONTO — Barry Sherman, a Canadian billionaire, generic-drug mogul and philanthropist, once promised that the autobiography he was writing would be a page-turner, packed with stories of intrigue, duplicity and outright corruption by his competition.

The last chapter was without doubt the most sensational — and he did not get to write it. It occurred last Friday, when his body was rolled out of his Toronto mansion by the police, together with that of his wife, Honey.

On Sunday night, Toronto police announced that its homicide team was leading the investigation, and that “the cause of death for both deceased was ligature neck compression.”

The couple’s real estate agent found their bodies hanging by their indoor pool, according to a person close to the family and local news reports. The police said there were no signs of forced entry and no suspects-at-large the public should be concerned about.