Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling British novelist and former politician jailed for perjury in a 2001 libel case, died aged 86 on October 5, just one day before his final novel 'Adam and Eve' was due to be published. He sold more than 300 million books worldwide and raised millions for charity, publisher HarperCollins said.
HarperCollins said Archer died "suddenly and peacefully at home ... between writing sessions". Kate Elton, HarperCollins UK's chief executive and Archer's editor, paid tribute to him as "the master storyteller and an editor's dream", praising a writer she called phenomenally hard-working and utterly committed to completing draft after draft to get every word as perfect as possible. "We're all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought joy to generations of readers — and a true friend," she said.
The timing of his death carried a novelist's own sense of drama. On October 4, the day before he died, Archer met hundreds of readers and signed books at a sold-out event at London's Leicester Square Theatre alongside broadcaster Gyles Brandreth. Writing on X afterwards, Brandreth said Archer had been in ebullient form before a packed house: "He was funny, engaging, and self-deprecating — a great storyteller to the last." He had told Elton from the very beginning of the project that 'Adam and Eve' would be his final novel, and he had been scheduled to speak at events this week, including at the Cheltenham Festival.
Archer's life swung from the heights of parliament and publishing to the depths of a prison cell. Elected as the Conservative MP for Louth in 1969 at the age of 29, he left parliament in 1974 and turned to writing to clear his debts. His 1976 debut, 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less', was followed by 'Kane and Abel' in 1979 — one of the defining commercial novels of its era — and later by the seven-volume Clifton Chronicles. His books spent a total of five and a half years on the New York Times bestseller lists, and in 2021 he signed a £10 million three-book deal with HarperCollins.
In politics he was a confidant of Margaret Thatcher, serving as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, and was made a life peer in 1992 as Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare. He was the Conservatives' choice to fight the first London mayoral election until his campaign collapsed. In 2001, an Old Bailey jury found he had lied in a libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper 13 years earlier, in which he had been awarded £500,000 in damages. He was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, serving two before his release in 2003. He returned to the House of Lords until his retirement in 2024.
He is survived by his wife Mary, whom he married in 1966 — the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year — and their sons William and James, and five grandchildren. Beyond his writing, Archer raised millions of pounds for charity, including by completing the 2004 London Marathon in 5 hours and 26 minutes. 'Adam and Eve' was published as planned on October 6, a day after his death — a final twist the author himself might have plotted.