Best known for his novels including The Road and No Country For Old Men, the Pulitzer Prize winner died at home on Tuesday of natural causes.

Throughout his career, he wrote multiple novels, screenplays and short stories in the western and post-apocalyptic genres.

The writer was a distinctly private man and reportedly did not like to discuss his craft.

His first novel The Orchard Keeper was published in 1965 and he went on to author several more books throughout the 1970s, including 1979's Suttree.

Although it did not get wide attention at the time, Blood Meridian, published in 1985, is considered by many to have been a turning point in McCarthy's career.

The book, set in the American frontier era, is generally regarded as McCarthy's finest work - followed closely by Suttree.

McCarthy travelled to all the places detailed in the novel and reportedly learned Spanish to help with his research.

Read more:
Eat, Pray, Love author delays new novel set in Russia after criticism from Ukraine

However, it was not until 1992 that he found true acclaim with All The Pretty Horses, the first volume of The Border Trilogy.

The book became a New York Times bestseller and sold 190,000 copies in hardback within the first six months of publication, giving McCarthy the wide readership which had eluded him for years.

No Country For Old Men, later adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Javier Bardem, was published in 2005.

The Road, also adapted into a film starring Viggo Mortensen, was published a year later and went on to win the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

McCarthy gave a rare interview to Oprah Winfrey, who had chosen it for her Book Club.

After McCarthy's death was announced, tributes were paid by many, including renowned US horror author Stephen King, who described him as "maybe the greatest American novelist of my time".

"He was full of years and created a fine body of work, but I still mourn his passing," he tweeted.