Bill Kelly is a first-time author with a background that reads like a thriller. His debut book draws from his early years as a police officer, where he arrested murderers and bank robbers, avoided a biker gang’s hit after exposing an illegal gun operation, and narrowly dodged gunfire. Gritty and authentic, his writing offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into the world of frontline policing and human connection.
Beyond the badge, his global career includes roles as a United Nations Security Officer, Investigator, Trainer, War Monitor, and Elections Observer. He’s survived cerebral malaria in a Bangladeshi military hospital and dengue fever in Haiti. From celebrating New Year’s with Russian soldiers in Kosovo to being threatened by them years later in Ukraine. He’s investigated the beheading of a voodoo queen in Haiti, negotiated hostage situations—including his own—and provided security for global leaders such as Pope John Paul II, former President of the United States Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife Mila.
This debut marks the first of six planned books chronicling a truly extraordinary life lived on the edge of history, danger, and diplomacy.
Books
In Crossing the Front Line: War Watching in Ukraine, retired RCMP officer and international peacekeeper William “Bill” Kelly brings readers into the shattered towns, tense checkpoints, and uncertain front lines of eastern Ukraine—where unarmed civilian monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission worked each day to support a fragile and often faltering peace. From snow-covered runways in Canada to burned-out buildings along the contact line, Kelly offers an unflinching, ground-level perspective on a conflict the world too often understood only through headlines. He recounts patrols through landscapes of sunflowers and wild poppies threaded with landmines, negotiations at volatile roadblocks where tempers ran high and weapons stayed close, and quiet conversations with civilians whose lives had been upended long before the full-scale invasion of 2022. This is not a book about politics or policy. It is a story of service, humanity, and purpose—of ordinary people trying to do something decent amid something deadly. With a steady eye and a candid voice, Kelly shows what it means to stand between armed sides with nothing more than a body armour vest and a commitment to report the truth.
CROSSING THE FRONT LINE
WAR WATCHING IN UKRAINE
Available on Amazon across the world!
Coming soon to Chapters, Barnes & Noble, Walmart.com and Indigo.
MORE THAN A BADGE
MY RCMP JOURNEY
He’s protected world leaders, investigated brutal crimes, and experienced near death across the globe. This is the first in a six-book series chronicling an extraordinary life of courage, chaos, and resilience.
