diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
index 5c90bc3..545109d 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ sub body_fh {
   return shift->{_body_file};
 }
 
+sub dup_body_fh {
+  my ($self) = @_;
+  open(my $fh, '<&=', $self->body_fh);
+  return $fh;
+}
+
 sub DESTROY {
   my $self = shift;
   # would we save some disk flushing if we unlinked the file before
@@ -380,6 +386,13 @@ Returns the file handle to the temporary file of the email. This will return
 undef if the file is not opened (yet). In I<hook_data( )> or later you can 
 force spooling to disk by calling I<$transaction-E<gt>body_filename>. 
 
+=head2 dup_body_fh( )
+
+Returns a dup()'d file handle to the temporary file of the email. This can be
+useful if an external module may call close() on the filehandle that is passed
+to it.  This should only be used for reads, as writing to a dup'd filehandle
+may have unintended consequences.
+
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<Mail::Header>, L<Qpsmtpd::Address>, L<Qpsmtpd::Connection>