The Midnight Taxi

Gunasekera’s marvelous debut centers on New York City taxi driver Siriwathi “Siri” Perera, who picks up a passenger headed to JFK, only to discover once they arrive at the airport that the man has been murdered in her backseat and his backpack has gone missing. Though Siri is innocent, she appears to be the only possible suspect, and is immediately arrested. Unexpectedly bailed out by her wealthy childhood best friend, Siri has five days to discover the truth behind the impossible crime before she goes before a grand jury. With the help of her acquaintance Amaya Fernando, a public defender and fellow Sri Lankan immigrant, Siri tries to piece together the puzzle in a city where the odds are stacked against poor people of color like her. Gunasekera, an attorney with the Innocence Project, pulls no punches when it comes to detailing the hostility Siri faces from law enforcement, but she never loses sight of the brain-teasing fun inherent to the best locked-room mysteries. Meanwhile, Siri herself—an only child who deferred her dreams of law school in order to become the family breadwinner—is a character well worth spending time with. Readers will be rapt. Agent: Michelle Richter, Fuse Literary. (Jan.)