Scott Turow, from Chicago’s 2002 Chicagoan of the Year article.

The home is currently listed with Coldwell Banker.

List Price: $5.9 million
Sale Price: Not yet known

The novelist Scott Turow’s Glencoe lakefront home, which has been on the market for $5.9 million, is under contract with a buyer, Turow’s real estate agent confirmed for Deal Estate on Wednesday.

Turow, the author of ten books, including the bestsellers Presumed Innocent and The Burden of Proof, and his wife, the artist Annette Turow, paid $4.79 million for the house in April 2001, according to Cook County Recorder of Deeds documents. The house was first listed for sale in March 2009 with an asking price of $6.25 million; the price dropped to $5.9 million in September.

Linda Jacobson, the Coldwell Banker agent representing the property, told me Wednesday evening that “we’re under contingency,” but then declined to comment any further on the property or the owners. “Under contingency” usually means that the contract has a stipulation that the buyers must sell their existing home or arrange financing before the deal can close. I could not reach Scott Turow for comment.

The 14-room home has vertical-laid wood siding befitting a contemporary beach house and a terraced staircase down the bluff to the beach. Pictures posted with the listing indicate that the sleek beach look continues inside, with neutral- and sand-colored walls, cabinetry, and other built-ins.

In July 2001, shortly after purchasing this home, the couple sold their Wilmette home of 17 years, a brick Italianate house with a clay tile roof. They purchased that house in November 1984 for $165,000 and later expanded it dramatically. The July 2001 sale price was $925,000; an adjacent parcel of land that the Turows had purchased separately was sold (also separately) at the same time for $430,000.

Alongside his successful writing career—his books reportedly have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and spawned one movie and two TV miniseries—Scott Turow is also a practicing lawyer, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. For his work on death penalty reform, Chicago selected Turow as one of its 2002 Chicagoans of the Year. He and Annette Turow have three children, all adults. Property records do not indicate whether Scott Turow has bought another home in the Chicago area yet.