Bestselling romantic adventure novelist Janet Evanovich listed her waterfront estate in Florida this winter for $17 million. Evanovich has owned the property since 2009, and paid $9.25 million for it.

The six-bedroom home’s exterior is palatial, and dressed in blazing white that is contrasted with azure awnings. Its interior living areas measure over 11,000 square feet—a large house, and one that uses its footprint to establish a heady sense of scale. The home’s openness offers stunningly extended lines in the common area, with plentiful glass bringing the Floridian coastal colors inside.

A spectacular, arched front door is the home’s opening statement. It swings wide to reveal a very warm foyer with antiqued barn-style plank floors, and a staircase that rises to a lengthy second story overlook; a crystal chandelier drops down from a metallic dome ceiling accent.

Design sensibilities sometimes stray into sophisticated whimsy, with a lounge and wet bar standing out as marvelously expressive: imaginative, and playfully witty. The variation continues with a contemporary kitchen, a cinema that receives a red-and-cane treatment, and a fitness room with a Balinese-style ceiling and fan.

Evanovich began publishing in her 40s. Her ‘Stephanie Plum’ novel One for the Money was adapted as a feature film and released in 2012.