Jeffrey T. Leonards

Jeffrey T. Leonards, Ph.D. is a retired psychologist whose foray into the world of fiction began in 2016. Prior to that, his authorship was predominately academic, starting with the 1980 publication of a peer-reviewed monograph, accomplished while still a young graduate student. Since then, Dr. Leonards has published numerous letters, commentaries, and scholarly pieces, has spoken at professional conferences, and was the former editor of The Maine Psychologist.

Leonards has found fiction to be an ideal medium for combining 37 years of clinical experience with decades of study in psychology, history, politics, and philosophy. The characters in his novels tend to personify values that often clash with social norms, and with this come choices that reshape identities in unpredictable—and sometimes disturbing—ways.

His debut novel, Fräulein: Struggle for Identity, is an epic yet harrowing story of a young psychiatrist who runs afoul of the Nazis by refusing to participate in the morbid eugenics movement. That book was released on March 23, 2021. Two years later came a second novel, Sigmund Fraud: Licensed Imposter, a fictional story of a middle-aged therapist working tirelessly to help others while ignoring his own demons. Currently, Leonards is putting the final touches on a third novel, tentatively entitled The Boathouse Row Murder. Centering around a rogue cop, a defrocked priest, and young black man framed for a murder he didn’t commit, the story is intended to be as much a social commentary as an exciting crime novel.

Writing aside, Dr. Leonards is a dedicated endurance athlete. He is an avid cyclist with over 165,000 miles on his bike since 1974. He shares a similar love affair with Nordic skiing as well as an ongoing passion for competitive ice hockey, which he continues to play year-round. In 2001, he spearheaded Franklin County Maine’s first indoor youth ice-hockey program and credits having written to the president of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers for their generous and much-needed grant. He holds a first-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was a volunteer ski-patroller at Sunday River Ski Resort.

Dr. Leonards resides with his wife and German Shepherd on the banks of the Saco River in Southern Maine.