The author died “unexpectedly and peacefully at his home,” according to his publisher, the day before his latest book, “Adam and Eve,” was due to be published.
Jeffrey Archer was originally a politician. He became an MP before the age of 30 and was one of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s favourites in the British Conservative Party in the 1970s and 1980s. But he was forced to resign as deputy party leader after a sex scandal in 1986. Just over a decade earlier, Archer had been forced to leave the House of Commons after a failed investment left him heavily in debt.
Archer used that experience to write the novel “Precis på öret” (1976), his debut. His major breakthrough came with the political thriller “Rivalerna,” which also gave Archer a large audience in Sweden. Both novels were made into popular television series.
While he continued to publish novels, Archer’s life was beset by several scandals. In 2001, Archer was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and attempting to improperly influence the outcome of a trial, in connection with a 1987 libel case in which a newspaper claimed he had had sex with a prostitute.
Archer announced in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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