India, Oct. 6 -- Four days before he died, Jeffrey Archer was making plans. "On Saturday 10th October at 7pm I will be discussing my final novel Adam & Eve at the Cheltenham Festival," he posted on social media. "I look forward to seeing many of you there."

Sadly, Archer died suddenly at home on Monday, October 5, "between writing sessions", according to his publisher HarperCollins. He was 86. Adam & Eve, which he had spent years thinking about and had announced as his last, went on sale October 6.

The timing could have come from one of his own plots.

Adam & Eve begins on November 11, 1918, as World War I comes to a close. Two children are born on the same estate within hours of each other: Adam, the son of a shepherd, and Eve, the dau...