News & events

Phosphate Rocks to be serialised

Posted on March 24, 2025 in News, Phosphate Rocks, Women in Engineering

Exciting news.

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) have acquired the rights to serialise my novel about a fertiliser factory in their member magazine (TCE) and website.

Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects

During demolition, a long-deceased body is pulled from the rubble of an old fertiliser factory on Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Through the police investigation, a portrait of the factory emerges through the stories of the raw materials,  the technology, and of the people who made everything tick.

First published by Sandstone Press in 2021, Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects is a unique blend of crime fiction and popular science writing that spotlights the key role of chemical engineering in modern society and the tensions between people and technology: how work as imagined differs from how work is actually done.

Adam Duckett, editor of TCE  plans to publish the first chapter in the May 2025 edition of TCE. Each of the 48 chapters will then appear weekly via The Chemical Engineer website, with further excerpts in the monthly magazine.

Reviews

Praise for Phosphate Rocks

‘A fascinating mixture of detection, science and memoir by chemical engineer Fiona Erskine. Beautifully written and clever.’ Literary Review

‘Quite possibly the best mystery novelist ever to have taken up the quill in the name of chemistry.’ —Engineering and Technology

‘A pacy murder mystery which also offers a fascinating insight into the workings of an industrial plant.’ –Undiscovered Scotland

‘Brilliant… This is a book that defies genre and expectations.’ –Books in Steel City

‘The chemical processing industries quietly operate in the background of society to keep us fed, watered, healthy and provisioned with the materials that make up practically everything you can see and touch as you read this – mostly unknown and unappreciated, but vital to modern society. Phosphate Rocks gives a window into this fascinating, complex, sometimes dangerous, always challenging and always essential part of our world. You will be educated and entertained in equal measure.’ Grant Campbell – Professor of Chemical Engineering – University of Huddersfield, UK


Five star reader reviews

‘An unexpected gem.’

‘Fiona Erskine is one of the most original and thoughtful writers of crime and thrillers out there.’
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‘A murder mystery that is also part memoir, part chemistry manual, and the unique fusion of styles will educate and entertain crime and literary fiction fans alike.’

‘Brilliant novel, erudite and moving with working class history strongly represented in Leith Docks and environs.’

‘This is not your normal crime fiction read…inventive and refreshing, combining a suspenseful murder mystery with science based fact.’

‘A brilliant book with a perfect mix of mystery, science, facts and great characters!’

‘An absolutely compelling read, clever and inventive, but with a deeply engrossing human story at the heart of it.’

‘A quirky read blending science, history and crime in a novel with plenty intrigue and suspense… A clever book, very entertaining and something that bit different in the crime genre.’

‘Utterly fascinating’