Archer, Jeffrey (1940-…), is an English novelist who is popular in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Archer was a member of Parliament and a leading political figure in England until he went bankrupt in 1974. He dropped out of politics and turned to writing to pay off his debts. His first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1975), was based on his financial disaster and became an immediate best seller.
Archer attracted controversy with his second novel, Shall We Tell the President? (1977), because it dealt with a plot to assassinate Edward M. Kennedy, president of the United States in the book. Kane and Abel (1980) portrays the hatred between an American banker and a Polish immigrant. The Prodigal Daughter (1982) is a sequel about the immigrant’s daughter. First Among Equals (1984) describes the competition between four men seeking to become prime minister of the United Kingdom. Archer produced English and American versions of the 1982 and 1984 novels. Honor Among Thieves (1993) is an international spy thriller. His other novels include A Matter of Honor (1986), As the Crow Flies (1991), The Eleventh Commandment (1998), Sons of Fortune (2003), False Impression (2006), A Prisoner of Birth (2008), Paths of Glory (2009), and Heads You Win (2018).
Archer wrote a family saga called “The Clifton Chronicles.” The series consists of seven novels—Only Time Will Tell (2011), The Sins of the Father (2012), Best Kept Secret (2013), Be Careful What You Wish For (2014), Mightier Than the Sword (2015), and Cometh the Hour and This Was a Man (both 2016). One of the characters in the series is a novelist who writes about a fictional London detective named William Warwick. In 2019, Archer began a new series about Warwick. The first book in the series is called Nothing Ventured.
Archer has also written short stories, plays, and children’s books. In 2000, he wrote a play, a courtroom drama called The Accused.
Jeffrey Howard Archer was born on April 15, 1940, near Weston-super-Mare, England. He graduated from Oxford University in 1966. In 1969, he was elected to Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party, becoming the youngest member of the House of Commons at the age of 29. He left Parliament after his bankruptcy in 1974 but returned to serve as deputy chair for the Conservative Party in 1985 and 1986.
In 1987, Archer won a libel case for damages from the London Daily Star newspaper and its editor over allegations that he paid a prostitute for sex. In 1999, the Conservative Party selected Archer as its candidate for mayor of London. However, Archer was forced to withdraw from the campaign when he was accused of using a false alibi during the libel case. In 2001, he was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury (lying under oath) and for perverting the course of justice. Archer was released in 2003. He wrote the three-volume A Prison Diary (2003-2005) describing his experiences in prison. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II had awarded Archer a life peerage, and he became known as Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare.
