She also wrote articles for such publications as the Illinois Bar Journal and began, tentatively, to write fiction. A voracious reader as a child, she was the first to admit that she had never had an interest in writing before. But she kept at it for more than seven years, taking a leave of absence from courtrooms to join the faculty of Loyola University’s law school in 2001. Her first novel was published the next year, and “Burning the Map” became a New York Times bestseller and gathered much praise, with Barnes & Noble naming it one on the best books of the year.