It’s time to let go: Jeffrey Archer talks to Wknd about mysteries, regret, and writing his last novel

What’s it been like, trying to keep pace with crime in our vastly changed world? ‘Oh, I stay up-to-date,’ he says, chuckling. ‘The readers mustn’t know I’m 85.’

At 85, Jeffrey Archer says he is writing his last novel.

‘I wanted to be a politician. I would have liked to have been an opera singer. I would have liked to captain the England cricket team – and bowl Tendulkar out. But I ended up a storyteller. That’s a God-given gift. I got lucky,’ Archer says.

His latest is End Game, the eighth and last book in the William Warwick crime thriller series. It was released on September 23.

“The one after this will be bigger than Kane and Abel,” Archer says (referring to his 1979 bestseller, one of the titles for which he is best-known). “I wrote a 100-page outline for it six years ago, but I wanted to take my time and finish the Warwick series first.”

What happens after it is done? “I will be writing… short stories, plays and screenplays. You can’t take stories out of me. It’s what I do best,” he says.

That’s good news for fans who have followed his work for nearly half a century, ever since his first novel, the economic-revenge thriller Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976).

His life, of course, has had twists and turns of its own. What does the bestselling author and former UK Member of Parliament (who resigned in 1986 amid a case that ended in a conviction for perjury) feel when he looks back, on his trail of bestsellers and decisions made and remade? “I’ve had a long and privileged career. I got lucky, and I’m grateful for that,” he says.

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For now, the focus is on Warwick. In the years since he began writing his thrillers, terror has struck the London where his books are set. Digital surveillance and artificial intelligences have invaded the streets.

How has this altered the craft of detective storytelling? What has it been like trying to keep up? Excerpts from an interview.

* Your final novel sounds massive in scale. Is there anything you can tell us about it?

Studying speeches made at the time, historians have said that, on September 15, 1941, the war led by Adolf Hitler on one side and Winston Churchill on the other could have ended. Three major non-fiction books have been written about what happened on that date, but no one has ever tackled it in fiction. That will be my final novel.

* Why stop after that?

Both in The Clifton Chronicles and the William Warwick series, I got quite attached to the characters. Most are based on people I know. I’m attached to Warwick’s family. Thank God, so is the public. I’m very lucky to have lived to the age of 85 to be allowed to finish the series. But it’s time to let go. I’ve written enough novels.

* Looking back, what are you proudest of?

The hard work. If I have done anything, it’s put in the work. That’s what I’m most proud of. The latest book, End Game, is the 17th draft, and took me over a thousand hours. Even at this age, there are no shortcuts.

Being No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list is another thing I am proud of. And I was very proud that, at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019, 8,500 people came to hear me speak. That was one of the great moments in my life.

* Was much of it, in a sense, inevitable – writer, Parliamentarian, serial novelist?

Someone once said, “We end up doing the thing we’re second-best at.” I wanted to be a politician. I would have liked to have been an opera singer. I would have liked to captain the England cricket team – and bowl Tendulkar out. But I didn’t. I ended up a storyteller. That’s a God-given gift. I got lucky.

* How do you deal with regret?

As an author, it’s easy. As a politician, it wasn’t. When I was a member of Parliament 50 years ago, I used to get a dozen letters a week and I would hand-write replies... I’m just glad Google, TikTok and Instagram weren’t around back then. I’m glad to be just an observer now. It’s been quiet for the last 25 years.

* Back to the writing, didn’t it make things harder, combining fact and fiction as you did?

I attempt to combine fact and fiction so that, when someone reads about the London Olympics in a book, they remember their own experience of it.

* How difficult has it been to keep writing as the world – and crime, policing and surveillance – have changed?

There’s no option but to keep up with what’s happening in the real world. The timeline of my life goes from Gandhi to Modi, for a little bit of context. I have to see what people are doing, thinking and what real-world incidents they relate to. That makes the books feel like they’re set in the now.

The readers mustn’t know I’m 85 (laughs).

Truthfully, I meet fascinating people from different spheres of life. I keep up with politics. I’m right up-to-date.

* Detective fiction has become harder to craft though, hasn’t it?

The freedom Agatha Christie had, which I don’t have, is there was no such thing as DNA analysis, or CCTV. New writers, particularly if they write murder stories, have got to somehow conquer those hurdles. And because it’s such a large genre and so many people are doing it, it’s quite difficult to be original.

That’s why I set out to make my story not about a crime but about a man, who goes from constable to sergeant, inspector, chief inspector, superintendent, chief superintendent and commander. Themes vary: drugs, fraud, murder, royal protection, security at the Olympic Games. The Warwick novels aren’t just about murder; they’re also the arc of a man and his family and what they go through as the world changes around them.

* Have you altered your writing in any way, to cater to new types of readers?

No… You’ve got to do what you feel comfortable doing. I’ve never thought, ‘Oh, horror is in, so let me add that.’ Or sex or murder is trending, so I must add that. I just tell a simple story, and hope you will enjoy it.

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THE ARCHER TALE

* Jeffrey Archer, 85, was born in London and grew up in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. Since 1976, he has written 41 books, 24 of which have made it to No. 1 on bestseller lists. He is married to solar-energy researcher Mary Archer, 80. They have two sons, theatrical producer William Archer, 53, and businessman James Archer, 51.

* If he had to give his life a sort of motto, Archer says, it would be: Work hard. “There is no substitute,” he adds. “If you work hard, you can outpace people who are even more talented than you are.”

* Meanwhile, on the Applause Entertainment plan to adapt six of his novels as series in India, he says he thinks it will take on a life of its own. “I’m anxious, of course, but I’m excited to see what Applause Entertainment does with these six books. It’s completely up to them and I will give them any help I can,” he says.