Jeffrey Archer Books in Order (Clifton Chronicles, Over My Dead Body, Heads You Win)

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Born in 1940, Jeffrey Archer was a politician before becoming an author. A former Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, he was imprisoned for three years for perjury and perverting the course of justice, ending his elected political career.

He began writing his first book in 1974, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, as a means of avoiding bankruptcy. Though critics have been generally negative, Jeffrey Archer is a best-selling novelist, having sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.

How to read Jeffrey Archer’s Books in Order?

Reading Jeffrey Archer’s Kane and Abel series

1. Kane and Abel (1979) – William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a penniless Polish immigrant-born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world-are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream.
2. The Prodigal Daughter (1982) – With a will of steel, Florentyna Rosnovski is indeed Abel’s daughter. She shares with her father, a Polish immigrant, a love of America, his ideals, and his dream for the future. But what she wants more than anything is to be the first female president.
3. Shall We Tell the President? (1977) – 6 days, 13 hours and 37 minutes to go… At the end of The Prodigal Daughter, Florentyna Kane is elected president – the first woman President of the United States. After decades of struggle, sacrifice, and personal tragedy, she has finally attained her goal. Yet even as she gives her inaugural speech, those who oppose her are plotting to silence her forever.

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Reading Jeffrey Archer’s Clifton Chronicles

1. Only Time Will Tell (2011) – It is 1920, and against the backdrop of a world ravaged by conflict, Harry’s story begins with the words ‘I was told that my father was killed in the war’. Harry’s existence is defined by the death of his father and he seems destined to a life on the docks until a remarkable gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys school and entry into a world he could never have envisaged.
2. The Sins of the Father (2012) – Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry joins the Merchant Navy, unable to face long-held family secrets and the fact he will never be able to marry his true love Emma Barrington. But when his ship is sunk mid-Atlantic, Harry takes the opportunity to assume the identity of one his deceased rescuers and begin a new life.
3. Best Kept Secret (2013) – It is 1945 and the House of Lords’ vote on who should inherit the Barrington estate ends in a tie, casting a long shadow on the lives of those involved.

4. Be Careful What You Wish For (2014) – Harry Clifton and his wife Emma are rushing to the hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno?
5. Mightier Than the Sword (2015) – Following the explosion of an IRA bomb on board the Barrington’s flagship MV Buckingham, Emma Clifton must deal with the repercussions on her family’s shipping business. Meanwhile, her old adversary, Lady Virginia Fenwick, plots her downfall.
6. Cometh The Hour (2016) – Lady Virginia faces bankruptcy, and can see no way out of her financial problems until she is introduced to a rich, hapless American. Harry and Emma’s son Sebastian Clifton, now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank, falls in love with the wrong girl even as his rivals plot to overthrow him. Meanwhile, his father remains determined to free a fellow author from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of the book they wrote together, the acclaimed Uncle Joe.

7. This Was a Man (2017) – Harry Clifton is set to write his magnum opus, and as he reflects on his days, the lives of his family continue to unfold, unravel and intertwine in ways no one could have imagined.

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Reading Jeffrey Archer’s William Warwick series

Detective William Warwick of the London Metropolitan Police is the star of this crime series. Introduced in 2019 with the book “Nothing Ventured,” the series delves into Warwick’s early years in the police force, his inquiries, and the obstacles he encounters in his personal and professional life. You can find more information about the William Warwick books here.

1. Nothing Ventured (2019)
2. Hidden in Plain Sight (2020)
3. Turn a Blind Eye (2021)
4. Over My Dead Body (2021)
5. Next in Line (2022)
6. Traitors Gate (2023)

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Reading Jeffrey Archer’s Year of Short Stories

1. A Quiver Full of Arrows (1980) – From London to China, and New York to Nigeria, Jeffrey Archer takes the reader on a tour of ancient heirlooms and modern romance, of cutthroat business and kindly strangers, of lives lived in the realms of power and lives freed from the gloom of oppression. Fortunes are made and squandered, honor betrayed and redeemed, and love lost and rediscovered.
2. A Twist in the Tale (1989) – Meet the philandering husband who thinks he’s committed the perfect murder; the self-assured chess champion who plays a beautiful woman for stakes far higher than cash; and the finance minister who needs to crack the secrets of a Swiss bank. Jeffrey Archer’s collection of twelve spellbinding stories will sweep you on a journey of thwarted ambition, undying passion, and unswerving honor that you’ll never forget.
3. Twelve Red Herrings (1994) – A wrongly convicted murderer exacts a flawless plan of revenge… Headlights in a rear-view mirror tail a female traveler on a lonely stretch of road… A serial bride secures her future by marrying only the wealthiest of men… An escaped Iraqi with a price on his head pays an involuntary visit to his homeland…

The Collected Short Stories collects A Quiver Full of Arrows, A Twist in the Tale and Twelve Red Herrings.

4. To Cut a Long Story Short (2000) – Here are stories that will engross and astonish, peopled with a rich assortment of truly memorable characters: the intoxicating woman who appears to her lover only once every six years; the British diplomat who employs his rather creative-if not entirely ethical-financial talents for a greater good; the millionaire who declares himself bankrupt to test the love and loyalties of those closest to him.
5. Cat O’ Nine Tales (2006) – fifth collection of 12 short stories, some inspired by the two years Jeffrey Archer spent in prison, including the story of a company chairman who tries to poison his wife while on a trip to St. Petersburg—with unexpected consequences.
6. And Thereby Hangs A Tale (2010) – In ‘High Heels’ discover what happens in a loss adjuster’s memorable first case where his wife has to explain why a pair of designer shows couldn’t have gone up in flames. While on the streets of Delhi in ‘Caste-Off’ a man and woman fall in love while waiting for a traffic light to turn green. And in ‘A Good Eye’ a priceless Renaissance oil painting remains in the same family for generations until its current owner is faced with a difficult choice . . .

The New Collected Short Stories collects To Cut a Long Story Short, Cat O’ Nine Tales and And Thereby Hangs a Tale.

7. Tell Tale (2017) – Find out what happens to the hapless young detective from Naples who travels to an Italian hillside town to solve a murder and the pretentious schoolboy whose discovery of the origins of his father’s wealth changes his life forever. Follow the stories of the woman who dares to challenge the men at her Ivy League university during the 1930s, and another young woman who thumbs a lift and has an encounter of a lifetime.
8. The Short, The Long and The Tall (2020) – Collects twenty of Jeffrey Archer’s most popular and feted short stories alongside beautifully rendered watercolor illustrations by Paul Cox.

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Non-Fiction books by Jeffrey Archer

1. A Prison Diary, Hell, Volume I (2002) – On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. This is his insight into prison life.
2. A Prison Diary, Purgatory, Volume II (2004) – On 9th August 2001, twenty-two days after Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury, he was transferred from HMP Belmarsh, a double-A Category high-security prison in south London, to HMP Wayland, a Category C establishment in Norfolk. He served sixty-seven days in Wayland and during that time, as this account testifies, encountered not only the daily degradations of a dangerously over-stretched prison service, but the spirit and courage of his fellow inmates . . .
3. A Prison Diary, Heaven, Volume III (2004) – The final volume of Jeffrey Archer’s prison diaries, A Prison Diary Volume III: Heaven, covers the period of his transfer from Wayland to his eventual release on parole in July 2003. It includes a shocking account of the traumatic time he spent in the notorious Lincoln jail and the events that led to his incarceration there – it also throws light on a system that is close to breaking point.

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Children’s Books by Jeffrey Archer

1. Willy visits the Square World (1980) – When Yo-Yo the Cat is kidnapped, Willy and Randolph the Bear must fly through space to rescue her from the Square World to which she has been taken – with some help from the Fuzzies, the wise Big Whoosh, the Glowsnake and the Upsidedown Bird.
2. By Royal Appointment (1980) – King Benefactor and Queen Echo of Littleland agree to have a race to decide which is the fastest car in the country. All the seven cars in the kingdom turn up for the race: the Speedy Car, the Greedy Car, the Flashy Car, the Trendy Car, the Shabby Car, the Silly Car and the Little Square Car. Which car will win the race? And which car will win everyone’s hearts?
3. The First Miracle (1980) – Based on a short story that first appeared in Archer’s bestselling collection A Quiver Full of Arrows. On his way home from market, the thirteen-year-old son of a Roman magistrate stationed in Judea encounters a foreign couple taking shelter in a manger behind a roadside inn and becomes caught up in the miraculous events of the first Christmas.
4. Willy and the Killer Kipper (1981) – When the world’s largest submarine, The Neptune is lost somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Willy and Randolph the Bear must save all the trapped sailors – with some help from the Rightwayup Bird, Sybil the Seagull, and Boris the Blue Whale. Which means defeating Konrad the Killer Kipper and his gang of a hundred horrible herrings who have captured The Neptune because he wants to eat the sailors. Can Willy and his friends win against them?

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Other novels by Jeffrey Archer

• Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1975) – The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life’s fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe. A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man.
• First Among Equals (1984) – Charles Seymour, second-born son, will never be the earl like his father, but he did inherit his mother’s strength-and the will to realize his destiny…Simon Kerslake’s father sacrificed everything to make sure his son’s dreams come true. Now it is Simon’s chance to rise as high as those dreams allow…Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride-a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible…Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it’s his turn for heroics, whatever the cost.
• A Matter of Honour (1986) – It seems innocent enough. A disgraced British colonel bequeaths a mysterious letter to his only son. But the moment Adam Scott opens the yellowing envelope, he sets into motion a deadly chain of events that threatens to shake the very foundations of the free world.

• As The Crow Flies (1991) – Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather’s fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as “The Honest Trader”. But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations.
• Honour Among Thieves (1993) – Spring 1994, Washington, D.C. – While the Clinton Administration grapples with its domestic policies, a sinister plot is being masterminded six thousand miles away in Baghdad.
• The Fourth Estate (1996) – Richard Armstrong narrowly escaped Hitler’s atrocities in Eastern Europe on his courage and his wits-skills that served him well in peacetime. Having turned a struggling Berlin newspaper into a success story seemingly overnight, Armstrong made a name for himself-and more than a few enemies along the way…Meanwhile, young Keith Townsend enters the international arena, armed with a world-class education and a sense of entitlement to match. Charged with growing his father’s newspaper business into a global media force, he and Armstrong are bound to become sworn rivals-until they arrive at the edge of collapse and will do whatever it takes to stay alive in the game…or die trying.

• The Eleventh Commandment (1998) – Connor Fitzgerald has an impressive resume. Military hero. Devoted family man. Servant of his country-as an assassin. Just as he’s about to put his twenty-eight-year career at the CIA behind him, he comes up against the most dangerous enemy he’s ever faced: His own boss, Helen Dexter.
• Sons of Fortune (2003) – It is Hartford, Connecticut, in the late 1940’s, and a set of twins is separated at birth by a desperate nurse. Nat Cartwright goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport, son of a wealthy CEO and his society wife.
• False Impression (2006) – The tale unfolds in New York, where Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed dead, after 9/11. She uses her new status to escape from America, only to be pursued across the world from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest as she tries to find answers to the following questions…

• The Gospel According to Judas (2007) – The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot is the result of an intense collaboration between a storyteller and a scholar: Jeffrey Archer and Francis J. Moloney. Their brilliant work–bold and simple–is a compelling story for twenty-first-century readers, while maintaining an authenticity that would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew.
• A Prisoner of Birth (2008) – If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson on any other day, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. But when the prosecution witnesses happen to be a group of four upper-crust college friends―a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat, and the youngest partner in an established firm’s history―who is going to believe Danny’s side of the story?
• Paths of Glory (2009) – Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary, Neil Armstrong, and Lewis and Clark are among such individuals. But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

• Heads You Win (2018) – From an early age it is clear that Alexander Karpenko is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, Alexander and his mother will have to escape Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they have an irreversible choice: board a container ship bound for America or one bound for Great Britain. Alexander leaves the choice to a toss of a coin…

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