Writer P.D. LaFleur has family ties in Western Maine

AUBURN – Author P.D. LaFleur hears the comparisons between his stories of regular folks in New England towns and those of Maine resident Richard Russo, the Pulitzer winner behind “Empire Falls.”

He’s flattered, but brushes them aside.

“Russo’s been writing full time or teaching writing for decades,” said LaFleur, a 50-something businessman who left a job as the chairman of a John Hancock subsidiary in Boston to settle on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“Russo doesn’t have to be afraid of me,” said LaFleur, who has been writing full time for six years.

However, he believes there is room for both.

In December, LaFleur plans to release his third novel, “Mill Town.”

“There are a lot of stories in small towns and people,” he said Wednesday. “Sometimes they stumble across something that’s a lot bigger than they have ever dealt with before.”

The yet-to-be-released book is not about any particular town, though folks from Lewiston-Auburn or the Rumford area might recognize some of the people, he said.

His most recently published novel, “Vengeance Betrayed,” used Auburn as a haven for one of the main characters.

LaFleur’s dad grew up here and he still has family in Lewiston-Auburn and the Rumford area.

The author, who grew up in Hudson, Mass., hopes to hear about his portrayal of Auburn when he meets with readers here on Thursday.

He plans to “have a chat” with people and sign books at the Auburn Public Library at 6:30 p.m. A similar session is planned for Millview Books in Mexico at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

It’s the kind of interaction that thrills LaFleur.

“If you have an ounce of ego, you want to be there,” he said.

The greatest complement? Familiarity.

Some of his characters are archetypes, meant to represent lots of different people in different cities, he said.

LaFleur consciously kept place names out of “Mill Town.”

It might be set in Maine, Massachusetts or Minnesota, he said.

All of his novels aim to capture regular folks in extreme circumstances, something which he says sets his mysteries apart from many of his colleagues.

“Their characters don’t have jobs,” he said. “They are all independently wealthy, apparently, and they just go off and try to solve these things.”

By contrast, regular folks populate LaFleur’s work, including his first published novel, “In the Company of Strangers.”

“Most of my characters are flawed, everyday people who happen to get caught up in something bigger than themselves and have to do something about it,” he said.