You may have heard that Jeffrey Archer died recently.

He did not live the most, uh, honourable of lives, if I may so put it. You can probably tell that just by looking at him.

He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1969 to 1974, but after almost going bankrupt he turned to writing, which is how I first learned of him.

I read his first novel back in 1976, when it came out, and greatly enjoyed it, and later I got a book of his short stories.

After making his fortune (Kane and Abel from 1979 is one of the bestselling books of all time), he returned to politics until a newspaper accused him of paying a prostitute for sex. He successfully sued for libel in 1987 and received a huge damage award, and once again Archer was a darling in Conservative politics in the UK.

That is, until 1999 when it emerged that he had committed perjury in 1987.

Oops!

He was released from prison in 2003, and retired from the House of Lords in 2024.

But he was a very good crime novelist and short story writer. Perhaps because he had so much experience?

If you’re one of those folks who doesn’t like to reward someone of whose morals you disapprove, fear no more. Archer can no longer profit from the sale of his books. (I can certainly sympathize. I refuse to plunk down any money for a book, film, or play that has J.K. Rowling’s name attached to it. Or Mel Gibson’s.)

His first book was Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. A con man rips off four men of their life savings, so they band together to try to get revenge on the con man. 

It was a great read back in 1976. I refreshed my memory a few years ago, and it’s still a great read. There was a BBC telly adaptation made of it in 1990 featuring Ed Begley, Jr. and Ed Asner, which found it’s way over to these shores and it wasn’t bad, but it doesn’t seem to be available these days, not even in bootleg form.

Then there’s A Twist in the Tale, a short story collection.

There is one story in there that is so— No, I’m not going to say anything about it. I’m simply going to recommend that if you like crime fiction in the mold of, say, Hitchcock’s classic TV show, then I can pretty much promise that you’ll enjoy “The Perfect Murder”. And there are 11 other stories in there as well.

And if you still hesitate to spend your money on a former Conservative Member of Parliament, then you can always borrow a copy from your library. Your librarian will be happy to see you. Unlike some of the other humanoids librarians have been having to deal with lately.

 

 

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