diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 594f839..c71b91e 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -23,14 +23,13 @@ CCFLAGS = %w(
              -Wno-missing-field-initializers
             ) + # Added -Wno-missing-field-initializers to shut GCC up over {0} struct initialisers
             [ENV['CFLAGS']]
-LDFLAGS = []
 LIBCHECK = "/usr/lib/libcheck.a"
 
 TEST_MODULES = Dir["tests/unit/check_*.c"].map { |n|
   File.basename( n )[%r{check_(.+)\.c},1] }
 
 if DEBUG
-  LDFLAGS << ["-g"]
+  LDFLAGS << ["-g", "-lefence"]
   CCFLAGS << ["-g -DDEBUG"]
 end
 
diff --git a/src/client.c b/src/client.c
index fef485d..273fc91 100644
--- a/src/client.c
+++ b/src/client.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ struct client *client_create( struct server *serve, int socket )
 
 	c->stop_signal = self_pipe_create();
 
-	debug( "Alloced client %p (%d, %d)", c, c->stop_signal->read_fd, c->stop_signal->write_fd );
+	debug( "Alloced client %p with socket %d", c, socket );
 	return c;
 }
 
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ void client_destroy( struct client *client )
 
 	debug( "Destroying stop signal for client %p", client );
 	self_pipe_destroy( client->stop_signal );
+	debug( "Freeing client %p", client );
 	free( client );
 }
 
@@ -491,17 +492,21 @@ void client_cleanup(struct client* client,
 	info("client cleanup for client %p", client);
 	
 	if (client->socket) { 
-		close(client->socket); 
-		client->socket = -1;
+		FATAL_IF_NEGATIVE( close(client->socket),
+			"Error closing client socket %d",
+			client->socket );
 		debug("Closed client socket fd %d", client->socket);
+		client->socket = -1;
 	}
 	if (client->mapped) {
 		munmap(client->mapped, client->serve->size);
 	}
 	if (client->fileno) { 
-		close(client->fileno); 
-		client->fileno = -1;
+		FATAL_IF_NEGATIVE( close(client->fileno),
+			"Error closing file %d",
+			client->fileno );
 		debug("Closed client file fd %d", client->fileno );
+		client->fileno = -1;
 	}
 
 	if ( server_io_locked( client->serve ) ) { server_unlock_io( client->serve ); }
diff --git a/src/serve.c b/src/serve.c
index b23eb28..4011350 100644
--- a/src/serve.c
+++ b/src/serve.c
@@ -342,12 +342,13 @@ int tryjoin_client_thread( struct client_tbl_entry *entry, int (*joinfunc)(pthre
 		/* join_errno can legitimately be ESRCH if the thread is
 		 * already dead, but the client still needs tidying up. */
 		if (join_errno != 0 && !entry->client->stopped ) {
+			debug( "join_errno was %s, stopped was %d", strerror( join_errno ), entry->client->stopped );
 			FATAL_UNLESS( join_errno == EBUSY,  
 					"Problem with joining thread %p: %s", 
 					entry->thread,
 					strerror(join_errno) );
 		}
-		else {
+		else if ( join_errno == 0 ) {
 			debug("nbd thread %016x exited (%s) with status %ld", 
 					entry->thread, 
 					s_client_address, 
@@ -504,7 +505,8 @@ void accept_nbd_client(
 
 
 	if ( !server_should_accept_client( params, client_address, s_client_address, 64 ) ) {
-		close( client_fd );
+		FATAL_IF_NEGATIVE( close( client_fd ),
+			"Error closing client socket fd %d", client_fd );
 		debug("Closed client socket fd %d", client_fd);
 		return;
 	}
@@ -512,12 +514,13 @@ void accept_nbd_client(
 	slot = cleanup_and_find_client_slot(params); 
 	if (slot < 0) {
 		warn("too many clients to accept connection");
-		close(client_fd);
+		FATAL_IF_NEGATIVE( close( client_fd ),
+			"Error closing client socket fd %d", client_fd );
 		debug("Closed client socket fd %d", client_fd);
 		return;
 	}
 	
-	info( "Client %s accepted.", s_client_address );
+	info( "Client %s accepted on fd %d.", s_client_address, client_fd );
 	client_params = client_create( params, client_fd );
 
 	params->nbd_client[slot].client = client_params;
@@ -529,7 +532,8 @@ void accept_nbd_client(
 	if ( 0 != spawn_client_thread( client_params, thread ) ) {
 		debug( "Thread creation problem." );
 		client_destroy( client_params );
-		close(client_fd);
+		FATAL_IF_NEGATIVE( close(client_fd),
+			"Error closing client socket fd %d", client_fd );
 		debug("Closed client socket fd %d", client_fd);
 		return;
 	}