diff --git a/Network/Mom/Stompl/Frame.hs b/Network/Mom/Stompl/Frame.hs
--- a/Network/Mom/Stompl/Frame.hs
+++ b/Network/Mom/Stompl/Frame.hs
@@ -1053,7 +1053,7 @@
   getLen :: [Header] -> Either String Int
   getLen hs = 
     case lookup hdrLen hs of
-      Nothing -> Right (-1)
+      Nothing -> Right (-1) -- -1 means no content-length header!
       Just l  -> let len = cleanWhite l
                  in if numeric len then Right $ read len 
                       else Left $ "content-length is not numeric: " ++ l
diff --git a/Network/Mom/Stompl/Parser.hs b/Network/Mom/Stompl/Parser.hs
--- a/Network/Mom/Stompl/Parser.hs
+++ b/Network/Mom/Stompl/Parser.hs
@@ -14,15 +14,14 @@
 where
 
   import           Data.Attoparsec.ByteString hiding (take, takeWhile, takeTill)
-  import qualified Data.Attoparsec.ByteString as A   (takeWhile, takeTill)
+  import qualified Data.Attoparsec.ByteString as A
   import qualified Data.ByteString as B
   import qualified Data.ByteString.UTF8 as U
   import           Data.Word 
-
   import           Control.Applicative ((<|>), (<$>))
   import           Control.Monad (void)
   import           Network.Mom.Stompl.Frame
-
+  
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   -- | Parses a ByteString at once with Attoparsec 'parseOnly'.
   --   May fail or conclude.
@@ -194,28 +193,21 @@
       _  -> fail $ "Expecting end-of-line: " ++ show c
 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  -- read text until null or,
-  -- if text length is given,
-  -- until text length
+  -- read text until end-of-body
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   body :: Int -> Parser B.ByteString
-  body x = body' x B.empty
-    where 
-      body' l i = do
-        n <- A.takeTill (== nul)
-        let b = i >|< n 
-        if l < 0 || l == B.length b
-          then do
-            _ <- word8 nul
-            return b
-          else 
-            if l < B.length b 
-              then failBodyLen l (B.length b)
-              else do
-                _ <- word8 nul
-                body' l (b |> 0x00) 
+  body l | l == 0    = eob B.empty
+         | l >  0    = A.take l >>= eob
+         | otherwise = A.takeTill (== nul) >>= eob
 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  -- end-of-body: read nul and return the body 
+  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  eob :: B.ByteString -> Parser B.ByteString
+  eob b = do _ <- word8 nul
+             return b
+
+  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   -- escape header key and value;
   -- we don't do this for connect and connected frames,
   -- this is controlled by the Bool parameter.
@@ -261,9 +253,3 @@
   _c   =  99
   _r   = 114
   _n   = 110
-  
-  failBodyLen :: Int -> Int -> Parser a
-  failBodyLen l1 l2 = 
-    fail $ "Body longer than indicated by content-length: " ++
-           show l1 ++ " - " ++ show l2
-  
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+__0.5.0__ Much More efficient body parsing when length is given
+
 __0.4.0__ Bytestring instead of Bytestring.Char8
 
 __0.3.0__ State Linkage Exception in license
diff --git a/stompl.cabal b/stompl.cabal
--- a/stompl.cabal
+++ b/stompl.cabal
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 Name:            stompl
 Category:        Message-Oriented Middleware, Network, Stomp, Parser
-Version:         0.4.0
+Version:         0.5.0
 Cabal-Version:   >= 1.8
-Copyright:       Copyright (c) Tobias Schoofs, 2011 - 2015
+Copyright:       Copyright (c) Tobias Schoofs, 2011 - 2016
 License:         LGPL
 license-file:    license/lgpl-3.0ex.txt
 Author:          Tobias Schoofs