P2P: The MIDNIGHT TAXI by Yosha Gunasekera
This month, I listened to the audiobook for The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera (narrated by the incomparable Isuri Wijesundara), and I haven’t been this riveted since Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. There’s a reason Cosimano’s blurb earns top billing the back cover. I cannot say enough good things. This audiobook forced me to do a full day of unbothered yard work, and that’s saying something.
If I were describing this to a friend, here’s what I’d say:
Siri, a Sri Lankan-American taxi driver, bonds with a public defender right before there’s a murder in her taxi. We know she didn’t do it - we are right there with her. Then who did? Her taxi was locked! Now Siri and new friend - the public defender - have five days to clear her name before she is charged with murder. And it’s not just a murder mystery. Siri, a crime podcast junkie, is grieving her brother’s death and making sense of how it impacted her. This case might just give her a new zest for life, if she can find the real suspect.
This book has everything a reader wants from a mystery - murder, twists, strong character development, and location as character. If I heard another reader pitch this, I’d bet it might sound similar. I might hear echoes of “taxi driver falsely accused,” and “locked taxi mystery,” and “five days to prove her innocence.” The stakes are clear. The character is innocent. And those elements make for a great pitch, no matter who is pitching it.
With all that in mind, here’s the official pitch on Publishers Marketplace, where most book deals are announced.
Publishers Marketplace
Fiction: Debut
April 11, 2025
Innocence Project attorney and Princeton lecturer Yosha Gunasekera's THE MIDNIGHT TAXI, a "locked cab" mystery pitched for readers of THE VERIFIERS and VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS, in which a Sri Lankan American taxi driver accused of killing her passenger must find the real culprit by following clues around New York City's five boroughs, in an ode to service people, immigrants, and the hidden treasures of New York
Let’s Look at the Hook:
The author’s expertise: In nonfiction, you’ll often see that the author is a subject matter expert. But we’re seeing this more and more in fiction. Yosha Gunasekera is an attorney with experience in this subject matter. That, in itself, is a hook. Who knows this subject better than an attorney who’s witnessed these types of trials firsthand?
Comparable titles: Jane Pek’s The Verifiers came out in February 2022 and Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers came out in March 2023. Both of these titles are within the past three years - check! Publishers love to see the three-year time frame because it shows that there’s recent interest. Also, both titles feature amateur sleuths who are suspects in murder cases. It’s enough to be similar, but The Midnight Taxi gives the amateur sleuth genre a taxi driver twist. The “with a twist” pitch is a great way to acknowledge the books that came before yours but then demonstrate how yours can set itself apart.
Stakes: An innocent woman is framed for murder and she is the only one who can solve it. She must save herself. The point is a little light here, but it still comes across. A passenger was murdered in the taxi driver’s car, so she will be framed. The mystery genre is ripe for high stakes.
Bonus: An ode to New York. Let’s face it. Most of publishing is in New York. This is a hook in its own way. As a reader, I loved the author’s admiration of New York. If she was a taxi driver describing Boston or Washington, D.C., it would have the same effect. Gunasekera celebrates those in the service industry, and this is another aspect that sets the book apart.
Jacket Copy:
When the last fare of the night turns up dead in her backseat, a Sri Lankan American taxi driver works off the clock to clear her name in this mystery novel by debut author Yosha Gunasekera.
Siriwathi Perera doesn’t quite know where she’s going in life. She never expected to be a taxicab driver in New York City, struggling to make ends meet and still living with her parents at twenty-eight. The true-crime podcasts that keep Siri company as she drives don’t do much to make up for the legal career she imagined for herself, or the brother she’s grieving.
When public defender Amaya Fernando gets into her cab, they make a quick connection through their shared Sri Lankan roots. Siri, whose social circle is limited to her grade-school best friend, Alex, thinks things might finally be looking up with this new potential friendship. But she’s suddenly dropped into her own true crime when she discovers her next passenger murdered in the backseat, and she has to call Amaya sooner than she’d expected.
Pinned as the obvious and only suspect, and desperate to clear her name, Siri chases down leads across the boroughs of New York City with Amaya’s help. But with her court date looming, they have just five days to find out who really killed the midnight passenger—or Siri’s life will be over before she can even truly live it.
from Penguin Random House
Book Jacket Breakdown:
We’re clocking in at 232 words. That’s fantastic. It’s short and feels like an achievable read, especially for an elevator pitch.
Hook: The stakes are personal! In one sentence, we get the character’s identity (as it is important to the story - the author will be delving into issues of immigration and racial profiling), the occupation, and the stakes (she is the main suspect). Simple but effective.
The Meat: The first paragraph is character development, necessary for building connection and a lot to untangle in later chapters. The inciting incident happens in paragraph two, and we get a look at the three most important characters: Siri (the taxi driver), Amaya (the public defender), and Alex (the best friend). The third paragraph is all stakes! Siri’s life is on the line. She only has five days - a pressure cooker! She can’t spend her life in jail before she has a chance to live it.
Exercise:
The formula of the hook is as follows. Does this work for your book?
When (inciting incident), a/n (descriptive adjective) (character occupation) (active verb) to (intended result).
If the stakes don’t feel high enough, try writing them in. For example…
When (inciting incident), a/n (descriptive adjective) (character occupation) (active verb) to (intended result) before (consequences).
What’s the best mystery you’ve ever read? I’d love recommendations in the comments!
