LONDON : Jeffrey Archer, the British author who sold more than 300 million books and rebuilt his literary career through financial ruin and political scandal, has died aged 86, publisher HarperCollins said.

Archer died suddenly and peacefully at home on October 5 between writing sessions. His death came a day before the scheduled publication of Adam & Eve, his final novel, and a day after he appeared at a London event to meet readers.

His novels, including Kane and Abel and Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, attracted an international readership with plots centred on ambition, rivalry, money and shifting fortunes. His official website says his books have been published in 47 languages.

Tributes from colleagues highlighted his commitment to writing and his enthusiasm for engaging with readers.

Kate Elton, HarperCollins UK’s chief executive and Archer’s editor, called him “the master storyteller and an editor’s dream”. She praised his willingness to complete successive drafts and his recognition of publishing as a collaborative effort.

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who shared the stage with Archer on Sunday, said he had been lively, funny and warmly received by a packed audience. He remembered him as “a great storyteller to the last”.

Archer’s move into fiction followed an early career in politics. Elected a Conservative member of parliament in 1969 at 29, he did not seek re-election in 1974 after the collapse of an investment left him facing financial ruin.

That experience helped provide the premise for Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in which four investors attempt to recover their losses from the man who deceived them. The book established a writing career that would outlast his political ambitions.

Kane and Abel, published in 1979, became one of his most recognisable titles. Its account of two men born into different circumstances reflected themes he would revisit throughout his career: social mobility, competition and the long-term consequences of personal decisions.

His later work included the seven-volume Clifton Chronicles, a family saga he began at 70.

Archer continued to follow a demanding writing routine, working in two-hour blocks measured by an hourglass given to him by his wife, Mary. He described revision and repeated drafting as essential to producing a finished novel.

His commercial success was accompanied by a turbulent public life. He became deputy chairman of the Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher and received a life peerage in 1992.

But his campaign to become London mayor collapsed after allegations that he had arranged a false alibi for a libel action against the Daily Star. He had won £500,000 in damages in the earlier case.

In 2001, Archer was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years in prison. He was released in 2003. The conviction ended his prospects of a political comeback, although his publishing career continued.

For his final novel, Archer returned to a story of lives shaped by unequal beginnings. Adam & Eve follows a shepherd’s son and an earl’s daughter born on Armistice Day in 1918, whose relationship unfolds against the approach of another war.

He announced in January that the book would be his last novel, bringing a planned conclusion to a career spanning half a century.