Jeffrey Archer, bestselling UK novelist and scandal-plagued politician, dies aged 86

October 6, 2026 10:05 AM

Jeffrey Archer, bestselling UK novelist and scandal-plagued politician, dies aged 86

Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling British novelist and former politician who was jailed for lying in a high-profile libel case, has died aged 86, his publisher HarperCollins said on Monday.   Archer sold over 300 million copies worldwide and was known for pacy thrillers like his 1976 debut "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" and 1979's "Kane & Abel". His final novel, "Adam and Eve", is due to be published on Tuesday.   Kate Elton, HarperCollins' UK CEO and Archer's editor, said in a sta...

Frederick Forsyth, ‘Day of the Jackal’ author, dies at 86

June 10, 2025 11:52 AM

Frederick Forsyth, ‘Day of the Jackal’ author, dies at 86

British novelist Frederick Forsyth, who authored best-selling thrillers such as "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Dogs of War," has died aged 86, his publisher said. A former correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, and an informant for Britain's MI6 foreign spy agency, Forsyth made his name by using his experiences as a reporter in Paris to pen the story of a failed assassination plot on Charles de Gaulle. "The Day of the Jackal", in which an English assassin, played in the film by Edward Fox, i...