Booked For Murder (Lindsay Gordon Crime Series, Book 5) by V.L. McDermid

This is a collection of short crime fiction, not a long-form novel. It’s useful for your database because it features Kate Brannigan—McDermid’s private investigator who happens to be a lesbian—but you won't find a single, sustained narrative here.

McDermid uses the shorter format to experiment with different voices. You get a mix of hard-boiled grit, classic puzzle-solving, and a bit of genre-bending. Brannigan is the anchor, and her sexuality is just a matter-of-fact part of her life, not the subject of the investigation.