THE MIDNIGHT TAXI

A hapless Big Apple cabbie becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

As a fan of true crime podcasts, 28-year-old New York City taxi driver Siriwathi Perera spends most of her time thinking about murder. She unexpectedly bonds with late night fare Amaya Fernando, a lawyer, over their shared Sri Lankan heritage and the challenges of being a woman in New York. Siri has sometimes dreamed of being an attorney. So it’s only natural that she calls Amaya when her last fare of the night dies in the back of her cab, making her the prime suspect in his apparent murder. Gunasekera’s debut novel is buoyed by Siri’s tart first-person narration as well as her colorful portraits of offbeat characters who could come to life only in the city that never sleeps. Chief among these are her childhood friend Alex, who steps up with her hefty bail and a bit of legwork, and Brooklyn boy Sal Lutrino, proprietor of the self-named pizza parlor that’s key to the tangled plot. Feeling like neither an American nor a Sri Lankan, Gunasekera’s cabbie, roaming the dark city streets, is a perfect metaphor for the restlessness of many Big Apple residents. Mystery readers should be drawn to this lively loner, perhaps the most engaging whodunit heroine since Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone. In case there’s any doubt that this is a series kickoff, the first three chapters of Siri’s upcoming caper are included at the end of the novel.

A charming debut mystery told with panache.