Okay, this is controversial, I’m afraid, but I’m going to give it a go! Everyone has heard of Jeffrey Archer or Baron Archer of Western-super-Mare to give him his title. As Wikipedia describes him, he is ‘an English novelist, former politician, convicted perjurer and peer of the realm’. He was also a talented and successful athlete who ran for England on several occasions and once for Great Britain. His reputation has consistently preceded him on his journey through life and I think it is fair to say that he is not to everyone’s liking! Having said that, I don’t intend to spend any time looking at his character. I have mentioned him solely for the purpose of talking about how his writing fits into the subject matter of the blog.
Before I start doing that, though, I have a feeling that some of you might have switched off already! That is my experience when I mention to any of my friends or even relatives that I am or have been reading one of his books as a number of them just wouldn’t pick one of them up. They are completely influenced by their feelings about him and how they view him as a person. I make no comment about what they think about him or about him as a person but I have to admit that I am pretty sure I have read every single one of his books and I am similarly sure that I have enjoyed every one of them. In fact, I look forward to them being released and usually finish them very soon after I have got hold of them. As books which are either of the detective fiction genre or at least pretty close to it, I can recommend them to you without reservation and I would simply say ‘give them a chance’.
There are stand-alone novels, short stories, and most recently, two series about particular characters spanning a number of years and generations. Both the long and the short stories tend to have clever twists, throughout and at the conclusion, most of which I don’t see coming, and, in the serials, you are invariably confronted with an unresolved issue which keeps you guessing and hanging on until the next volume arrives. Since his very first book, ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less‘, published in 1974 (apparently as a means of avoiding bankruptcy), Archer has written twenty-nine books and fourteen compilations of short stories. Included in that are three books/diaries he wrote of his time in prison, entitled ‘Hell’, Purgatory’ and ‘Heaven’. He was sentenced to four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice and spent time in Belmarsh, a category A prison, Wayland, a category C prison and, finally, North Sea Camp, an open prison. These books are referred to as non-fiction and I am happy to take his word for that. At the same time, a sceptic might suggest that there could have been a little scope for decoration in the writing! Overall, though, as with all his other books, I found them compulsive reading and, certainly, worth a read.
His most recent publications consist of two series of stories, the first of these being seven books, known as the Clifton Chronicles, on the life and family of Harry Clifton from his birth in 1920 to his funeral in 1993. The first of these was completed in 2011 and the seventh in 2016. The second series consists, so far, of three volumes on the life and career in the police force of a certain William Warwick. I suspect there are a few more of these to come with the next one due in October 2021. I’m afraid I can’t wait and, although I usually recommend reading books in the order they are published, I think the William Warwick series would be a very good place to begin your reading life with Jeffrey Archer, assuming you can overcome any prejudices!
Just as a final note on this, my daughter picked up the Harry Clifton series a few months ago and she has already been through all seven as well as the first three William Warwick books. In addition, she has now moved on to his back catalogue and she is steadily (and quickly) moving through these. I know I’m biased but I would say that’s a pretty good recommendation!