Jeffrey Archer, Bestselling Novelist And Former Tory Peer, Dies Aged 86 — One Day After Promoting His Final Book

Jeffrey Archer, the author who sold more than 300 million books and whose political career ended in a perjury conviction, has died aged 86, according to BBC News.

His publisher HarperCollins said he died "suddenly and peacefully at home" on Monday, between writing sessions.

What We Know

Archer's five-decade writing career produced bestsellers including Kane and Abel and the Clifton Chronicles. He often set his novels in his home town of Wellington, Somerset, the BBC reports.

His final novel, Adam and Eve, is due out later this month.

He was still working right up to the end. HarperCollins said he had been at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on Sunday, signing books for fans alongside broadcaster Gyles Brandreth. Last week he also returned to his old school, Wellington School, to promote the book.

Brandreth wrote on X that Archer was "in the most wonderful, ebullient form" at the event and that he had told the audience it would be his last novel. Brandreth later told the BBC's World Tonight that Archer was a "huge character" who "became a gentler person after prison".

Archer had been due to appear at the Cheltenham Festival on Saturday to discuss the book. He and his wife Mary marked their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They have two sons and five grandchildren, HarperCollins said.

A Life With Plot Twists

Archer's career had more reversals than most of his novels, as the BBC's obituary lays out.

• Politics: He was elected Conservative MP for Louth, Lincolnshire, in 1969. In 1974 he quit Parliament after a disastrous investment left him facing bankruptcy.
• Writing: He turned his finances around with his first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in 1976. Kane and Abel followed three years later, and First Among Equals in 1984 cemented his place among Britain's best-selling authors.
• Return to politics: Margaret Thatcher made him Conservative deputy chairman in 1985. He resigned the following year after a newspaper alleged he had slept with a sex worker. He sued the Daily Star for libel and won £500,000 in damages in 1987.
• Downfall: In 2001 he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice. A court found he had lied in that libel case and asked a former friend to give him a false alibi.

He was released in 2003 and later returned to the House of Lords, where he remained until he retired in 2024.

The BBC's obituary describes a man of "huge drive" and "immense personal charm" who bounced back more than once, but whose public humiliation was "entirely self-inflicted".

The Tributes

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the news a "huge shock". She wrote on X that he had sent her a message only that morning and had always been a source of encouragement to her.

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi called him a "dear friend and extraordinary human being". Kate Elton, HarperCollins UK CEO and Archer's editor, called him a "master storyteller" and "an editor's dream".

What Happens Next

Adam and Eve is still set for release this week, HarperCollins said, so fans will get the final book as planned. No cause of death has been given beyond the publisher's statement.

What's your favourite Archer novel, and will you be picking up his final book? Tell us in the comments.

Sources: BBC News: Author and former politician Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86 | BBC News: Jeffrey Archer: bestselling novelist whose political career ended in scandal