diff --git a/lib/notmuch.h b/lib/notmuch.h
index 88da0789..42682854 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch.h
@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ notmuch_database_get_all_tags (notmuch_database_t *db);
  *
  * http://xapian.org/docs/queryparser.html
  *
- * As a special case, passing a length-zero string, (that is ""), will
+ * As a special case, passing either a length-zero string, (that is ""),
+ * or a string consisting of a single asterisk (that is "*"), will
  * result in a query that returns all messages in the database.
  *
  * See notmuch_query_set_sort for controlling the order of results.
diff --git a/lib/query.cc b/lib/query.cc
index 9266d35f..10f8dc8a 100644
--- a/lib/query.cc
+++ b/lib/query.cc
@@ -125,7 +125,9 @@ notmuch_query_search_messages (notmuch_query_t *query)
 			      Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_WILDCARD |
 			      Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_PURE_NOT);
 
-	if (strcmp (query_string, "") == 0) {
+	if (strcmp (query_string, "") == 0 ||
+	    strcmp (query_string, "*") == 0)
+	{
 	    final_query = mail_query;
 	} else {
 	    string_query = notmuch->query_parser->
@@ -333,7 +335,9 @@ notmuch_query_count_messages (notmuch_query_t *query)
 			      Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_WILDCARD |
 			      Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_PURE_NOT);
 
-	if (strcmp (query_string, "") == 0) {
+	if (strcmp (query_string, "") == 0 ||
+	    strcmp (query_string, "*") == 0)
+	{
 	    final_query = mail_query;
 	} else {
 	    string_query = notmuch->query_parser->