Explore the real-world places that appear in Suspect by Scott Turow. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Highland Isle Police Headquarters (Highland Park City Hall & Police), Rosewood Beach (Highland Isle lakefront), Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Federal Plaza and Calder's Flamingo, Rik Dudek's Law Office and 5 more.
1677 Old Deerfield Rd — Real-world stand-in for Chief Gomez's department
Highland Isle is the small city near Kindle County where Lucia Gomez serves as police chief. Her spotless reputation is shattered when three male officers accuse her of trading promotions for sex. The department is the center of the scandal, and Gomez believes enemies both inside and outside the force are behind a smear campaign.
Highland Park is an affluent North Shore suburb founded in the 1860s along Lake Michigan. Its municipal and police offices serve a city of roughly 30,000 residents. Turow's Highland Isle is fictional, and this is the closest real-world equivalent.
The city's government and police departments operate from municipal buildings in the downtown area. They are working offices rather than tourist sites.
883 Sheridan Rd — Lakeside setting for the North Shore suburb
Highland Isle's affluent lakeside character is the backdrop against which Chief Gomez's career unravels. The location stands in for the suburb's public face, the polished image Gomez has spent years cultivating and now must defend. Her fall from grace plays out in a community that prizes reputation.
Rosewood Beach has been a Highland Park lakefront destination since the early 20th century. It was redeveloped in the 2010s with a nature preserve, a beach house, and restored dunes.
Rosewood Beach is a public park on Lake Michigan with a swimming beach, walking paths, and a beach house. Visitors come for the lake views and the restored dunes.
Visit: Rosewood Beach (park)
219 S. Dearborn St — Federal grand jury investigation of Chief Gomez
The federal grand jury investigating Lucia Gomez's alleged sex-for-promotions scheme sits in Kindle County's federal courthouse, whose real-world analog is Chicago's federal building. Rik Dudek acts as Gomez's attorney in the probe. The national attention on the case is what makes it a chance for Rik and Pinky Granum to break into the legal big leagues.
The Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse opened in 1964. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's firm as part of the Chicago Federal Center. It houses the Northern District of Illinois federal courts and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
The courthouse remains an active federal courthouse with airport-style security. The public can attend some proceedings, but it is not a tourist attraction.
50 W. Adams St — Open plaza beside the federal courthouse
The plaza outside the federal courthouse is the kind of place where lawyers, investigators, and witnesses pass through on their way to the grand jury. For Rik Dudek and Pinky Granum, the federal building represents the high-stakes arena they have longed to enter after years of minor cases.
Federal Plaza was built in the 1960s alongside the Dirksen Building and the Kluczynski Federal Building. Alexander Calder's 53-foot red-orange stabile Flamingo was installed there in 1974.
The plaza is a public space with Calder's Flamingo, a farmers market on some weekdays, and Loop foot traffic. It is a recognized Chicago public art landmark.
Visit: Federal Plaza (Calder's Flamingo) (landmark)
Loop-area office — Stand-in for his shabby practice
Rik's shabby office is the base for his roster of mostly minor cases, such as workman's comp, DUIs, and bar fights. It is where he takes on Lucia Gomez as a client and where Pinky Granum, his licensed P.I., works. The humble setting contrasts with the national profile of Gomez's case.
Chicago's Loop has long been home to small law practices that cluster near the courthouses. Many occupy older office buildings with modest suites. This location is an approximate placement, since the office is fictional.
The area is a busy downtown business district with older office buildings, cafes, and transit. No specific public site marks the office.
Downtown Loop — Pinky's grandfather's high-profile firm
Before working for Rik, Pinky Granum became familiar with high-profile criminal matters in the law office of her grandfather, Sandy Stern, the famed defense attorney from Turow's earlier novels. The prestige of that world is the standard against which Rik's shabby practice is measured. Pinky's family ties to it shape her ambitions and her conflicts.
Chicago's downtown legal district grew around its courthouses and La Salle Street financial institutions. Prominent defense firms have long occupied the towers near Dearborn and Wacker. The exact address is fictional, so this is an approximate placement.
The district remains the center of Chicago's legal and financial industries. It consists of private offices rather than public sites.
2650 S. California Ave — Stand-in for Kindle County's criminal courts
Rik's routine DUI and bar-fight cases would typically be handled in the county criminal courts, as Kindle County's equivalent of this complex. It is the workaday justice system Rik and Pinky are trying to leave behind for the federal big leagues.
The Leighton Criminal Court Building opened in 1929 and is the main felony courthouse for Cook County. It sits beside the Cook County Jail complex.
The building remains an active, very busy courthouse. Public access is limited to court business, and it is not a tourist destination.
1300 W. Jackson Blvd — Where Pinky once washed out
Pinky Granum's history of failing out of various professions includes the police academy. Her past there informs how she is perceived by police and by herself. She knows most people see her as a screwup, but she also has sharp investigative instincts that serve her well as a P.I.
The Chicago Police Training Academy has trained recruits since the early 20th century. The facility on West Jackson Boulevard was redeveloped, and the department later opened a larger training campus on the West Side.
The site is an active police training facility and is not open to the public.
71 W. Van Buren St — Federal detention facility in the Loop
As Pinky dives into the scandal, she is drawn into the city's criminal networks. The federal detention system is the world those networks ultimately answer to. It is the kind of place where witnesses, suspects, and informants may be held while the grand jury investigation proceeds.
The triangular Metropolitan Correctional Center opened in 1975. Its narrow slit windows made it one of the most recognizable buildings in the Chicago Loop. The Federal Bureau of Prisons closed it in 2021.
The building is closed and has stood vacant, so it is not open to the public. It remains a notable piece of Loop architecture.
4802 N. Broadway — Stand-in for the bars where Rik's cases begin
Many of Rik's minor cases begin in bars, including bar fights. Pinky Granum's work as a licensed P.I. takes her into the city's nightlife and street-level networks, and from there deeper into its criminal underworld. This historic tavern stands in as a real-world equivalent of that setting.
The Green Mill opened in 1907 as Pop Morse's Roadhouse and was a Prohibition-era haunt associated with Al Capone's circle. It has been a jazz venue for decades and is a Uptown Chicago institution.
The Green Mill is an operating jazz club and cocktail lounge with live music most nights. Its vintage interior and history draw visitors.
Visit: Green Mill Cocktail Lounge (restaurant)
More by Scott Turow: All Scott Turow books
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