(Files) British author and former MP Jeffrey Archer leaves St Paul's Cathedral at the end of British former prime minister Margaret Thatchers ceremonial funeral in central London on April 17, 2013. (Photo by Leon Neal / AFP)
London: British author Jeffrey Archer, who penned a series of best-selling novels, served as a Conservative MP and was convicted of perjury, died suddenly at 86, his publisher HarperCollins said.
Archer died "suddenly and peacefully at his home between writing sessions" on Monday, HarperCollins said.
His editor, Kate Elton, called him a "master storyteller and an editor's dream".
The writer had been due to appear at Cheltenham Literary Festival this week to discuss "Adam and Eve", what he described as his final novel after 50 years of storytelling.
It was due to be published Tuesday.
The Sun tabloid reported that he had been signing books for fans at an event in London on Sunday.
Archer had revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The author led a life as colourful as the characters in his novels, which sold over 300 million copies, according to his website.
Talented and ambitious, he was a high flyer who could never quite escape the whiff of scandal despite a talent for bouncing back from humiliating setbacks.
Ambitious from his earliest years, Archer used his charm and fund-raising abilities to climb almost to the top of the Conservative Party.
MP at 29
He joined the Tories while a student at Britain's prestigious Oxford University and in 1969 won a resounding by-election victory to become a member of parliament at the age of 29.
His parliamentary career came to an abrupt end in 1974 when he was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the collapse of a Canadian industrial cleaning company in which he had invested.
However, with typical resilience he used his experiences as material for his first book "Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less", published in 1975, the first of a series of blockbusters set in the worlds of high finance and politics.
Panned by the critics, they nevertheless earned him a fortune and Archer nursed hopes of a political revival while using his contacts and persuasiveness to raise millions of pounds for the Tories.
In 1985, his labours were recognised by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who named him Conservative deputy chairman, describing him as a model Tory high achiever.
Archer retired from the House of Lords in 2024. His wife Mary, a scientist, is Chancellor of the University of Buckingham.
