Human Remains by Jo Callaghan

Human Remains is the third Kat and Lock detective story by Jo Callaghan. I’ve been wanting to read it since I read the previous book in the series – Leave No Trace, but I waited patiently until it came out in paperback in December 2025 to read it.

DCS Kat Frank works with the world’s first AI detective – AIDE Lock, who can read and analyse thousands of articles or a suspect’s entire social media in seconds. But he’s not good at understanding human emotions or instincts.

When a body is found buried on a Warwickshire farm, Kat and Lock must find out who it is, before tracking down the murderer. But Kat is distracted. Everyone is talking about a podcast about one of her previous cases. A man was found guilty of the crimes of the Aston Strangler, but the podcast said it was a miscarriage of justice and pressure is growing on Kat. When it looks likely the victim on the farm was strangled, could the unthinkable have happened? Is the Aston Strangler back?

Then another body is found…

As Kat tries to focus on her job, Lock uses all his logical skills to identify the killer. Meanwhile, Kat is juggling life with her son and the personal lives of her team. As she tries to shut out all the noise, she doesn’t notice that she is in great danger herself.

Human Remains is another fun and very clever read in the series. If you enjoy a detective story, I’m sure you will enjoy the Kat and Lock books. When I read the first book in the series – In the Blink of an Eye, I wasn’t sure that I would like the AI detective, but it works really well. Can you read Human Remains as a standalone story? You could do, but you might as well read the whole series!

The fourth and final book in the series – Body of Lies – is coming out in spring 2026. Unless Sainsbury’s is selling it cheaply in hardback, I will again be waiting patiently to read it until it is published in paperback!