Author Irvine Welsh is back in home turf of Leith today for the launch of his new novel, Dead Men's Trousers.

The latest offering from the best-selling writer sees the return of Renton, Spud, Begbie and Sick Boy in the next -- and last -- instalment of the Trainspotting series, in which one of his characters will be killed off.

The author will join with the Edinburgh International Book Festival and arts collective Neu! Reekie! to take over a former Crawford's biscuit factory in Leith for today's launch, before moving on to events in Glasgow and as part of the Aye Write festival on Sunday.

The new book will reunite the famous characters -- now in their 50s -- in the months running up Hibernian FC ending their long run without winning the Scottish Cup with Renton, now a jet-setting DJ and Begbie reinvented as a successful artist.

However Welsh said that even though he was prompted to write a new story on the back of the long-awaited sequel, T2: Trainspotting, he said it was "unlikely" to make it onto the silver screen.

He said: “When you think about The Godfather or Terminator, nobody ever thinks about the third film. To do a holy trinity and get a third one right is a massive challenge. I can’t think of a third film that is successful.

"I think we should quit while we are ahead. I don’t know if we have the bottle collectively."