And Thereby Hangs a Tale

These 12 yarns are so satisfying because they are ingeniously plotted, include richly drawn characters, and have deliciously unexpected conclusions. They feature the mad, the bad, and the dangerous to know, as well as some more poignant and telling characters.

Nearly a decade after his last volume of short stories was published, Archer returns with his eagerly awaited, brand-new collection, Tell Tale, giving us a fascinating, exciting and sometimes poignant insight into the people he has met, the stories he has come across and the countries he has visited during the past 10 years.

An imprisoned man is certain that his supposed murder victim is alive; a female driver is pursued by a menacing figure in another vehicle; a young artist gets a big break; a restless beauty manages the perfect birthday celebration; an escaped Iraqi on Saddam Hussein's death list pays a visit to his homeland. How will they react? How would you? Cleverly styled, with richly drawn characters and ingeniously plotted story lines, each of the 12 tales ends with a delightfully unexpected turn of events.

When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death - a priceless Van Gogh painting. It's a young woman in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building who has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death.

This is the story of a man who loved two women, and one of them killed him. Some people have dreams that are so outrageous that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Percy Fawcett, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong are among such individuals. But what if one man had such a dream, and when he'd achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition?

This collection of 12 short stories will draw the listener into each story, whether it is "Old Love", the tale of two undergraduates at Oxford in the 30s and their bitter rivalry, which ends in a memorable love story; or "Broken Routine", which tells of an insurance claim advisor and his surprising encounter on the train home to Sevenoaks; or "Henry's Hiccup", the story of the Grand Pasha and how his plans for the most perfect honeymoon go awry.

It is Greenwich, Connecticut, in the early 1950s, and a set of twins is separated at birth by a desperate nurse. Nat Davenport goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Cartwright, the son of a wealthy CEO and his wife.

A man calls unexpectedly on his mistress and sees another man leaving her flat. Accusing her of being unfaithful, he quarrels with her, strikes her. She dies. Leaving unseen, he tips off the police so that the other man is arrested and charged. Has he achieved "The Perfect Murder"? A tantalising opening to A Twist in the Tale, a fast-moving, entertaining set of stories.

On July 19, 2001, Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years in prison for perjury. He serves the first three weeks of his sentence in a high-prison that houses some of Britain's most violent criminals. Archer contemplates suicide; he is allowed out and followed by 100 reporters on the day of his mother's funeral; he's moved to the Lifer's wing because of the security; and he becomes a trusted confidant for fellow convicts. A Prison Diary is Archer's account of these events.

Danny Cartwright and Spencer Craig were born on different sides of the track. Danny is an East End Cockney mechanic, Spencer is a West End barrister. When they meet, their lives will never be the same again.

Kane & Abel for a new generation!!

They had only one thing in common - William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a penniless Polish immigrant. Two men born on the same day on opposite sides of the world, their paths were destined to cross in the ruthless struggle to build a fortune.

The marvellous story, spanning 60 years, of two powerful men linked by an all-consuming hatred, brought together by fate to save - and finally destroy - each other.

In the 1960s, four ambitious new MPs take their seats at Westminster. Over three decades they share the turbulent passions and upheavals of the race for power with their wives and families, men and women caught up in a dramatic game for the highest stakes of all. But only one man can gain the ultimate goal - the office of Prime Minister.

Charlie Trumper's earliest memory is of hearing his grandfather's sales patter from behind his costermonger's barrow. When Grandpa Charlie dies, young Charlie wants nothing more than to follow in his footsteps - his burning ambition is to own a shop that will sell everything: 'The Biggest Barrow in the World'. Charlie's progress from the teeming streets of Whitechapel to the elegance of Chelsea Terrace is only a few miles as the crow flies.

Heads You Win is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and best-selling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer. Leningrad, Russia, 1968. Alexander Karpenko is no ordinary child, and from an early age, it is clear he is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, he and his mother will have to escape from Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they are confronted with an irreversible choice: should they board a container ship bound for America, or Great Britain? Alexander leaves that choice to the toss of a coin....

The Clifton Chronicles is Jeffrey Archer’s most ambitious work in four decades as an international best-selling author. The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the chilling words, ‘I was told that my father was killed in the war’. But it will be another twenty years before Harry discovers how his father really died, which will only lead him to question: who was his father?