diff --git a/joinmarket/jsonrpc.py b/joinmarket/jsonrpc.py
index aefbb246..0fcc8bf9 100644
--- a/joinmarket/jsonrpc.py
+++ b/joinmarket/jsonrpc.py
@@ -86,14 +86,13 @@ def queryHTTP(self, obj):
                 raise JsonRpcConnectionError(
                         "authentication for JSON-RPC failed")
 
-            # All of the codes below are 'fine' from a JSON-RPC point of view.
-            if response.status not in [200, 404, 500]:
-                conn.close()
-                raise JsonRpcConnectionError("unknown error in JSON-RPC")
-
             data = response.read()
             conn.close()
 
+            # All of the codes below are 'fine' from a JSON-RPC point of view.
+            if response.status not in [200, 404, 500]:
+                raise JsonRpcConnectionError("unknown error %s in JSON-RPC: %s" % (response.status, data))
+
             return json.loads(data)
 
         except JsonRpcConnectionError as exc: