Spy novelist Tom Clancy dies aged 66

Clancy died on Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland Continue reading the main storyRelated StoriesObituary: Tom Clancy Best-selling US author Tom Clancy has died at the age of 66, his publisher Penguin has confirmed.

Clancy wrote a string of best-selling spy and military thrillers. His 17th novel, Command Authority, is due out in December.

Several of his books featuring CIA analyst Jack Ryan have been adapted into successful Hollywood films.

The former insurance broker died in a Baltimore hospital near his Maryland home, according to reports.

Clancy, who died on Tuesday, was remembered as "a master of his craft" by Tom Weldon, chief executive of Penguin Random House UK.

"Tom Clancy changed readers' expectations of what a thriller could do," he said. "He will be greatly missed by millions of fans in the UK and around the world."

'Real gentleman'

Written in his spare time, The Hunt for Red October (1984) was Clancy's first published novel and sold more than five million copies.

President Ronald Reagan helped to fuel the success of the book when he called it a "perfect yarn".

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