diff --git a/Modules/_librabbitmq/connection.c b/Modules/_librabbitmq/connection.c
index 8f0f8f4..5983f3b 100644
--- a/Modules/_librabbitmq/connection.c
+++ b/Modules/_librabbitmq/connection.c
@@ -1340,7 +1340,11 @@ PyRabbitMQ_recv(PyRabbitMQ_Connection *self, PyObject *p,
                  *buf++ = *bufp++, j++);
         }
         if (p) {
-            if (!payload) goto error;
+            if (body_target && !payload) //We expected content, got none
+                goto error;
+            else if (!payload) //We expected no content, return emptystring
+                payload = PyString_FromStringAndSize(NULL, 0);
+            
             PyDict_SetItemString(p, "properties", propdict);
             PyDict_SetItemString(p, "body", payload);
             PyDict_SetItemString(p, "channel", channel);