Albert Waitt and his children, Aaron and Sydney Waitt. Contributed/Albert Waitt

As a small, coastal Maine town, Kennebunkport doesn’t see much crime. But that didn’t stop local author Albert Waitt from writing about it anyway.

Published by Level Best Books, Waitt’s latest novel, “Springbrookville,” is the third installment in his LT Nichols mystery series, and is set to release on Tuesday, April 22.

Set in fictional Laurel, Maine, the novel focuses on Police Chief LT Nichols as he works to solve the murder of Adam Springbrook, an entrepreneur who intended to build the sleepy fishing village of Laurel into a jet-set vacation destination.

“That’s something that anyone who has lived here can recognize,” Waitt said. “It happened here, it happened in Martha’s Vineyard, it’s happening up and down the coast.”

But Kennebunk-area readers won’t only recognize the uptick in tourism. Waitt wrote the fictional town of Laurel to be very similar to Kennebunkport, from the Blueberry Plains in West Kennebunk right down to the old-style bar resembling the pre-renovation Pilot House.

“There are spots that everyone will recognize,” Waitt said. “People will see elements of our town throughout the book.”

The main character of the book, Nichols, will also be recognizable to readers. He’s the every-man character, Waitt said, who doesn’t have any brilliance other than his perseverance and doggedness.

“Springbrookville” is set to be released on April 22. Contributed/Albert Waitt

“I love Sherlock Holmes, but nobody thinks like that today,” Waitt said. “Most of the police officers I know are regular people trying to do a really difficult job.”

The everyday character is a theme throughout the book. Each novel in the LT Nichols series represents a different level of society, Waitt said. The first novel looked at the bottom levels of society, the second looked at the upper levels of society, and “Springbrookville” looks at the regular, everyday people living in a coastal community.

It’s a novel that residents of many southern Maine communities can relate to, Waitt said.

As a Kennebunkport resident, Waitt said he subconsciously infused elements of his own life into the novel.

“I try not to, but there are actions in restaurants that are easy to write,” Waitt said.

Before writing the LT Nichols series, Waitt spent many years slinging drinks behind the bar at Hurricane Restaurant in Kennebunkport, coaching his children’s sports teams, and frying clams.

It’s these experiences that Waitt said make his voice so relatable to other Mainers, though Waitt hopes it is different from other authors.

“There’s a lot of crime fiction that I like,” Waitt said. “I had to stop reading it for a while because I didn’t want to appropriate anyone else’s style. I wanted to create my own.”

One of Waitt’s favorite crime fiction authors is Richard Russo, whom he met at a book signing fundraiser at Graves Memorial Library in Kennebunkport.

“I told him I wanted to be him when I grew up as a writer,” Waitt said. “He’s so good.”

Waitt will hold his own author event at Graves Library on June 5.