diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 32d0fcf..b1c67bd 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ license = "MIT/Apache-2.0"
 exclude = [".gitignore", "builder", "examples"]
 
 [dependencies]
+serde = "1.0"
 serde_json = "1.0"
 cpython = { version = "0.1", default-features = false }
 cpython-json = { version = "0.2", default-features = false }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 1c39afb..e9a96a0 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -66,12 +66,13 @@
 extern crate cpython;
 extern crate cpython_json;
 extern crate serde_json;
+extern crate serde;
 
 #[doc(hidden)]
 pub use cpython::{PyResult, PyObject};
 pub use serde_json::value::Value;
 
-/// Result object that accepts `Ok(Value)` or any `Err(Error)`.
+/// Result object that accepts `Ok(T)` or any `Err(Error)`.
 ///
 /// crowbar uses [the `Box<Error>` method of error handling]
 /// (https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/error-handling.html#error-handling-with-boxerror) so
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ pub use serde_json::value::Value;
 ///
 /// If an error is thrown, it is converted to a Python `RuntimeError`, and the `Debug` string for
 /// the `Error` returned is used as the value.
-pub type LambdaResult = Result<Value, Box<std::error::Error>>;
+pub type LambdaResult<T = Value> = Result<T, Box<std::error::Error>>;
 
 use cpython::{Python, PyUnicode, PyTuple, PyErr, PythonObject, PythonObjectWithTypeObject,
               ObjectProtocol};
@@ -217,21 +218,22 @@ impl std::error::Error for ContextError {
 }
 
 #[doc(hidden)]
-pub fn handler<F>(py: Python, f: F, py_event: PyObject, py_context: PyObject) -> PyResult<PyObject>
-    where F: Fn(Value, LambdaContext) -> LambdaResult
+pub fn handler<F, O>(py: Python, f: F, py_event: PyObject, py_context: PyObject) -> PyResult<PyObject>
+    where F: FnOnce(Value, LambdaContext) -> LambdaResult<O>,
+          O: serde::Serialize
 {
-    let event = to_json(py, &py_event).or_else(|e| Err(e.to_pyerr(py)))?;
-    let result = match f(event, LambdaContext::new(&py, &py_context)?) {
-        Ok(r) => r,
-        Err(e) => {
-            return Err(PyErr {
-                ptype: cpython::exc::RuntimeError::type_object(py).into_object(),
-                pvalue: Some(PyUnicode::new(py, &format!("{:?}", e)).into_object()),
-                ptraceback: None,
-            })
-        }
-    };
-    from_json(py, result).or_else(|e| Err(e.to_pyerr(py)))
+    let event = to_json(py, &py_event).map_err(|e| e.to_pyerr(py))?;
+    f(event, LambdaContext::new(&py, &py_context)?)
+        .map_err(|e| PyErr {
+            ptype: cpython::exc::RuntimeError::type_object(py).into_object(),
+            pvalue: Some(PyUnicode::new(py, &format!("{:?}", e)).into_object()),
+            ptraceback: None,
+        }).and_then(|v| serde_json::value::to_value(v)
+            .map_err(cpython_json::JsonError::SerdeJsonError)
+            .map_err(|e| e.to_pyerr(py))
+        ).and_then(|v| from_json(py, v)
+            .map_err(|e| e.to_pyerr(py))
+        )
 }
 
 #[macro_export]