Fiona Macleod (SE 1979), writing under the pen name Fiona Erskine, is the author of six crime novels. 

Beginning with The Chemical Detective (2019), four books follow Dr Jaq Silver - skier, scientist, international jet-setter and explosives expert - as she unravels a series of complex and high-octane mysteries. The second book in the series, The Chemical Reaction (2020), was shortlisted for the Staunch Prize. Two further episodes The Chemical Cocktail (2022) and The Chemical Code (2023) make up a quartet of spicy engineering thrillers. She is also the author of two police procedurals, Phosphate Rocks: A Death In Ten Objects (2021) and Losing Control (2024), and has been described by the Engineering & Technology Magazine as 'the best mystery novelist ever to have taken up the quill in the name of chemistry.'

Fiona combines her writing with an academic career as Professor of Process Safety at the University of Sheffield. In this talk, Fiona will discuss her two seemingly very different careers, and their surprising and inspiring intersections.

Lotte Reinbold is a Fellow at Selwyn, where she is the Director of Studies in English.

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