In a life of achievement and disgrace, ambition, self-promotion, misbehavior and scandal were themes that he knew intimately and that propelled his best-selling novels.
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Jeffrey Archer, a best-selling British author, politician, philanthropist, athlete and one-time jailbird, whose résumé seesawed between achievement and disgrace, and who inspired abiding public fascination with headline-grabbing accounts, both fictional and personal, of ambition, self-promotion, misbehavior and scandal, died on Monday at his home in London. He was 86.His publisher, HarperCollins, announced his death in a statement. His final novel, “Adam and Eve,” about the intertwined destinies of the highborn and the humble, was scheduled for publication on Tuesday.
Mr. Archer’s thrillers and sagas of the rich and powerful sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. In his London apartment overlooking the Thames, the walls were adorned with paintings, including works by Monet and Picasso.
