Braveheart actor pens latest novel based on Fife robbery

ARTS: Author and playwright delves into local history for new ‘crime comedy’

A Fife actor-turned-author, whose on-screen credits include Braveheart and Rob Roy, has taken a local crime from four decades ago as the inspiration for his latest novel.

Leslie-based author and playwright Michael Kelly’s seventh novel has come during a frenetic burst of creativity during the coronavirus lockdown.

Not only has Michael penned his latest book, The Great Leslie Robbery, which he describes as a “crime comedy”, he has also been working on several literary projects that are soon to come to fruition.

Michael, who swapped his on-screen exploits for the written word, has been a full-time writer since the success of his stage play, And All Because The

Ladies Love A Right Guid Gab, which played to sell-out audiences in 2014.

Michael said: “I love Fife history as well as local characters, and have based my latest novel on an incident which took place in my home town of Leslie nearly 40 years ago.

“I can’t give away too much, other than to say the events of a robbery have probably been forgotten by most people, so I’ve tried to use it to shape my latest novel, set in the same town.”

As well as his latest publication Michael has completed the Guid Gab trilogy and is already half way through his next novel.

And he is hinting at a possible return to the big screen once the pandemic eases.

“We are living in unprecedented times and I just needed to keep busy to help get through it like everyone else.

“My old pal Des Dillon had created a script for the Cuckoo’s Nest memoir and we have a film company wanting to make it into a movie, but that had to be put back because of coronavirus.

“Once we get to safer times I hope work can restart to make it a reality.”

Picture: Kenny Smith. Michael Kelly with his new novel, The Great Leslie Robbery.