diff --git a/scheme/httpd/handlers.scm b/scheme/httpd/handlers.scm
index a258693..88fd8a3 100644
--- a/scheme/httpd/handlers.scm
+++ b/scheme/httpd/handlers.scm
@@ -48,9 +48,12 @@
   (make-predicate-handler 
    (lambda (path req)
      ;; we expect only one host-header-field
-     (let ((body (string-trim (get-header (request-headers req) 'host))))
-       (or (string-ci=? hostname body)
-	   (string-prefix-ci? (string-append hostname ":") body))))
+     (let ((maybe-val (get-header (request-headers req) 'host)))
+       (if maybe-val
+	   (let ((val (string-trim  maybe-val)))
+	     (or (string-ci=? hostname val)
+		 (string-prefix-ci? (string-append hostname ":") val)))
+	   (http-error (status-code bad-request) "No Host: header"))))
    handler default-handler))
 
 ;; selects handler according to path-prefix