diff --git a/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/main/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutor.java b/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/main/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutor.java
index f4a1220..01ef51e 100644
--- a/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/main/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutor.java
+++ b/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/main/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutor.java
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ protected GoPluginApiResponse execute(LookupSecretRequest lookupSecretsRequest)
             Map<String, String> response = Collections.singletonMap("message", String.format("Secrets with keys %s not found.", unresolvedKeys));
             return new DefaultGoPluginApiResponse(NOT_FOUND_ERROR_CODE, GSON.toJson(response));
         } catch (IOException | GeneralSecurityException | BadSecretException e) {
-            return DefaultGoPluginApiResponse.error("Error while looking up secrets: " + e.getMessage());
+            Map<String, String> errorMessage = Collections.singletonMap("message", "Error while looking up secrets: " + e.getMessage());
+            return DefaultGoPluginApiResponse.error(GSON.toJson(errorMessage));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/test/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutorTest.java b/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/test/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutorTest.java
index 1df328f..866ce85 100644
--- a/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/test/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutorTest.java
+++ b/gocd-file-based-secrets-plugin/src/test/java/cd/go/plugin/secret/filebased/executors/LookupSecretsRequestExecutorTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
-import org.skyscreamer.jsonassert.JSONAssert;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -39,6 +38,7 @@
 import static org.skyscreamer.jsonassert.JSONAssert.assertEquals;
 
 class LookupSecretsRequestExecutorTest {
+
     private File databaseFile;
 
     @BeforeEach
@@ -87,4 +87,15 @@ void shouldReturnEmptyResponseWhenSecretsAreNotPresent() throws JSONException {
         assertEquals("{\"message\":\"Secrets with keys [randomKey1, randomKey2] not found.\"}", response.responseBody(), true);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void shouldErrorAsAMapWhenAnyExceptionOccurs() throws JSONException {
+        GoPluginApiRequest goPluginApiRequest = mock(GoPluginApiRequest.class);
+        when(goPluginApiRequest.requestBody()).thenReturn(
+                new LookupSecretRequest("some-non-existent-file.db", Arrays.asList("randomKey1", "randomKey2")).toJSON());
+
+        GoPluginApiResponse response = new LookupSecretsRequestExecutor().execute(goPluginApiRequest);
+
+        assertThat(response.responseCode()).isEqualTo(500);
+        assertEquals("{\"message\":\"Error while looking up secrets: File \\u0027some-non-existent-file.db\\u0027 does not exist\"}", response.responseBody(), true);
+    }
 }