diff --git a/internal/apijson/encoder.go b/internal/apijson/encoder.go
index 13d8903..decc24a 100644
--- a/internal/apijson/encoder.go
+++ b/internal/apijson/encoder.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -342,16 +343,18 @@ func (e *encoder) encodeMapEntries(json []byte, v reflect.Value) ([]byte, error)
 
 	iter := v.MapRange()
 	for iter.Next() {
-		var encodedKey []byte
+		var encodedKeyString string
 		if iter.Key().Type().Kind() == reflect.String {
-			encodedKey = []byte(iter.Key().String())
+			encodedKeyString = iter.Key().String()
 		} else {
 			var err error
-			encodedKey, err = keyEncoder(iter.Key())
+			encodedKeyBytes, err := keyEncoder(iter.Key())
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
+			encodedKeyString = string(encodedKeyBytes)
 		}
+		encodedKey := []byte(sjsonReplacer.Replace(encodedKeyString))
 		pairs = append(pairs, mapPair{key: encodedKey, value: iter.Value()})
 	}
 
@@ -389,3 +392,7 @@ func (e *encoder) newMapEncoder(t reflect.Type) encoderFunc {
 		return json, nil
 	}
 }
+
+// If we want to set a literal key value into JSON using sjson, we need to make sure it doesn't have
+// special characters that sjson interprets as a path.
+var sjsonReplacer *strings.Replacer = strings.NewReplacer(".", "\\.", ":", "\\:", "*", "\\*")
diff --git a/internal/apijson/json_test.go b/internal/apijson/json_test.go
index 85cd2b5..e656344 100644
--- a/internal/apijson/json_test.go
+++ b/internal/apijson/json_test.go
@@ -361,8 +361,9 @@ var tests = map[string]struct {
 	"date_time_missing_timezone_colon_coerce": {`"2007-03-01T13:03:05-1200"`, time.Date(2007, time.March, 1, 13, 3, 5, 0, time.FixedZone("", -12*60*60))},
 	"date_time_nano_missing_t_coerce":         {`"2007-03-01 13:03:05.123456789Z"`, time.Date(2007, time.March, 1, 13, 3, 5, 123456789, time.UTC)},
 
-	"map_string":    {`{"foo":"bar"}`, map[string]string{"foo": "bar"}},
-	"map_interface": {`{"a":1,"b":"str","c":false}`, map[string]interface{}{"a": float64(1), "b": "str", "c": false}},
+	"map_string":                       {`{"foo":"bar"}`, map[string]string{"foo": "bar"}},
+	"map_string_with_sjson_path_chars": {`{":a.b.c*:d*-1e.f":"bar"}`, map[string]string{":a.b.c*:d*-1e.f": "bar"}},
+	"map_interface":                    {`{"a":1,"b":"str","c":false}`, map[string]interface{}{"a": float64(1), "b": "str", "c": false}},
 
 	"primitive_struct": {
 		`{"a":false,"b":237628372683,"c":654,"d":9999.43,"e":43.76,"f":[1,2,3,4]}`,