diff --git a/src/mu-cmd-server.c b/src/mu-cmd-server.c
index eb31d886..b33ec58a 100644
--- a/src/mu-cmd-server.c
+++ b/src/mu-cmd-server.c
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ cmd_from_string (const char *str)
 
 
 static Cmd
-parse_line (const gchar *line, GSList **args)
+parse_line (const gchar *line, GSList **args, GError **err)
 {
 	Cmd cmd;
 	GSList *lst;
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ parse_line (const gchar *line, GSList **args)
 	if (!line)
 		return CMD_IGNORE;
 
-	lst = mu_str_esc_to_list (line);
+	lst = mu_str_esc_to_list (line, err);
 	if (!lst)
 		return CMD_INVALID;
 
@@ -1014,9 +1014,12 @@ mu_cmd_server (MuStore *store, MuConfig *opts, GError **err)
 		GError *my_err;
 
 		line = my_readline (MU_PROMPT);
-		cmd  = parse_line (line, &args);
+		cmd  = parse_line (line, &args, err);
 		g_free (line);
 
+		if (cmd == CMD_INVALID)
+
+
 		my_err = NULL;
 		if (!handle_command (cmd, store, query, args, &my_err))
 			g_clear_error (&my_err);
diff --git a/src/mu-query.cc b/src/mu-query.cc
index db68de04..bac11193 100644
--- a/src/mu-query.cc
+++ b/src/mu-query.cc
@@ -194,7 +194,10 @@ get_query (MuQuery *mqx, const char* searchexpr, GError **err)
 	Xapian::Query query;
 	char *preprocessed;
 
-	preprocessed = mu_query_preprocess (searchexpr);
+	preprocessed = mu_query_preprocess (searchexpr, err);
+	if (!preprocessed)
+		throw std::runtime_error
+			("parse error while preprocessing query");
 
 	try {
 		query = mqx->query_parser().parse_query
@@ -278,7 +281,7 @@ mu_query_destroy (MuQuery *self)
 
 /* preprocess a query to make them a bit more promiscuous */
 char*
-mu_query_preprocess (const char *query)
+mu_query_preprocess (const char *query, GError **err)
 {
 	GSList *parts, *cur;
 	gchar *myquery;
@@ -287,7 +290,9 @@ mu_query_preprocess (const char *query)
 
 	/* convert the query to a list of query terms, and escape them
 	 * separately */
-	parts = mu_str_esc_to_list (query);
+	parts = mu_str_esc_to_list (query, err);
+	if (!parts)
+		return NULL;
 
 	for (cur = parts; cur; cur = g_slist_next(cur)) {
 		/* remove accents and turn to lower-case */
diff --git a/src/mu-query.h b/src/mu-query.h
index fc64b6e3..4686d6c2 100644
--- a/src/mu-query.h
+++ b/src/mu-query.h
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ char* mu_query_as_string (MuQuery *self, const char* searchexpr, GError **err)
  *
  * @return a pre-processed query, free it with g_free
  */
-char* mu_query_preprocess (const char *query)
+char* mu_query_preprocess (const char *query, GError **err)
         G_GNUC_MALLOC G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
 G_END_DECLS