English novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer died of natural causes at his London home on October 5. He was 86. His publisher, HarperCollins, said he died suddenly and peacefully "between writing sessions."The death comes days before Archer was scheduled to discuss his final novel Adam & Eve at the Cheltenham Festival on October 10.Jeffrey Archer was preceded in death by his mother, Lola Archer, the first female journalist on the weekly newspaper Weston Mercury and his father, William Archer, a convicted con artist, fraudster, and bigamist, according to The Guardian.The Cometh the Hour author is survived by his wife and solar energy conversion scientist Mary Archer and their two sons, William (named after Jeffrey’s father) and James.All you need to know about Jeffrey Archer’s parentsJeffrey Archer was born in northern London in April 1940. When he was two weeks old, his parents relocated to the seaside town called Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, and his mother joined the local newspaper, Weston Mercury.Lola Archer was born Lola Cook in Bristol in 1913. She was privately educated on a scholarship. At 18, she became pregnant with a daughter but had to give up her baby to adoption after her parents forbade her from getting married. Two years later, she met William Archer, nearly 40 years her senior, and became pregnant with a son named Jeffrey Neville.However, William was largely absent from his fatherly duties and the boy was also given up for adoption. In 1939, Lola and William tied the knot and welcomed Jeffrey Howard Archer, who later became an author and politician. William Archer was 64 years old when his son was born.During his early fame as a novelist, Jeffrey Archer claimed his dad was a World War I veteran. However, it was later revealed that William impersonated a late decorated war hero who shared his name.Jeffrey’s father briefly worked as a mortgage broker in London, where he was charged with a series of frauds. Upon receiving bail, William fled to the USA under the name William Grimwood, his dead employer, and began working as a chewing gum salesman in New York.In 1919, a U.S. newspaper reported that he “duped many well-known New York people.”He also fathered a daughter named Rosemary Turner in 1917, Jeffrey’s older half-sister, who was famously married to Democratic Connecticut Senator Brien McMahon. After McMahon’s death, Rosemary remarried a Belgian ambassador. She died in 1986. Meanwhile, William Archer passed away in 1956.Lola Archer remarried a year after her husband’s death. Besides her journalism, she also became a member of the Weston borough council. Lola lived a long life and succumbed to a stroke in July 2001, aged 87. Jeffrey Archer was by her side at a nursing home in Saffron Walden, Essex, at the time of her passing after the judge permitted him to leave during his perjury trial.When the novelist returned to court dressed in all-black, the judge informed the jury of the circumstances.“What I want to say to you is this - first of all, in such circumstances I hope you will agree that ordinary civilised decencies prevail and everybody must, through me, express sympathy with Lord Archer because of his situation.”After the jury nodded in agreement, the judge reminded them not to let the “sad events” distract them from their duty.“Your task is to reach a verdict on the evidence, as I have told you many times, and mine is to continue this summing up. If we each of us remember that against the background of the sad events which I have mentioned, we go a fair way to achieving a just result in this trial.”Jeffrey Archer acknowledged the judge by bowing his head, while removing his glasses to wipe his tears. Later that same month, the jury found him guilty of two counts of perjury and two counts of perverting the course of justice.