diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 3ec9044..6206a4a 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -24,12 +24,30 @@ Requirements
 
 Example
 -------
-This examples demonstrates how to use ``sprockets.mixins.json_error`` by ...
+This examples demonstrates how to use ``sprockets.mixins.json_error`` to format
+errors as JSON.
+
 .. code:: python
 
     from sprockets import mixins.json_error
+    from tornado import web
+
+    class MyRequestHandler(json_error.JsonErrorMixin,
+                           web.RequestHandler):
+
+        def get(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            raise web.HTTPError(404, log_message='My reason')
+
+
+The response from the handler will automatically be formatted as:
+
+.. code:: json
+
+    {
+        "message": "My reason",
+        "type": "Not Found"
+    }
 
-    # Example here
 
 Version History
 ---------------
@@ -48,4 +66,4 @@ Available at https://sprocketsmixinsjson_error.readthedocs.org/en/latest/history
    :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sprockets.mixins.json_error
 
 .. |License| image:: https://pypip.in/license/sprockets.mixins.json_error/badge.svg?
-   :target: https://sprocketsmixinsjson_error.readthedocs.org
\ No newline at end of file
+   :target: https://sprocketsmixinsjson_error.readthedocs.org
diff --git a/sprockets/mixins/json_error/__init__.py b/sprockets/mixins/json_error/__init__.py
index 07d04bc..a56bae3 100644
--- a/sprockets/mixins/json_error/__init__.py
+++ b/sprockets/mixins/json_error/__init__.py
@@ -4,5 +4,40 @@ mixins.json_error
 Handler mixin for writing JSON errors
 
 """
-version_info = (0, 0, 0)
+version_info = (1, 0, 0)
 __version__ = '.'.join(str(v) for v in version_info)
+
+
+class JsonErrorMixin(object):
+    """Mixin to write errors as JSON."""
+
+    def write_error(self, status_code, **kwargs):
+        """Suppress the automatic rendering of HTML code upon an error.
+
+           :param int status_code:
+                The HTTP status code the :class:`HTTPError` raised.
+
+           :param dict kwargs:
+                Automatically filled with exception information including
+                the error that was raised, the class of error raised, and an
+                object.
+
+        """
+        _, raised_error, _ = kwargs.get('exc_info', (None, None, None))
+
+        error_type = getattr(raised_error, 'error_type', self._reason)
+
+        try:
+            error_message = raised_error.get_message()
+        except AttributeError:
+            error_message = 'Unexpected Error'
+
+        self.error = {
+            'message': error_message,
+            'type': error_type,
+        }
+        if hasattr(raised_error, 'documentation_url'):
+            self.error['documentation_url'] = raised_error.documentation_url
+
+        self.set_header('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=UTF-8')
+        self.finish(self.error)
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 20b57db..90ca759 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 coverage>=3.7,<4
 coveralls>=0.4,<1
 nose>=1.3,<2
+tornado>=4.0,<5
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 5b467be..164a00d 100644
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -2,12 +2,77 @@
 Tests for the sprockets.mixins.json_error package
 
 """
-import mock
-try:
-    import unittest2 as unittest
-except ImportError:
-    import unittest
+import json
+
+from sprockets.mixins import json_error
+from tornado import testing, web
 
 
-class MyTest(unittest.TestCase):
-    pass
+class HTTPErrorRequestHandler(
+        json_error.JsonErrorMixin, web.RequestHandler):
+
+    def get(self):
+        raise web.HTTPError(400, 'Error Reason')
+
+
+class CustomExceptionRequestHandler(
+        json_error.JsonErrorMixin, web.RequestHandler):
+
+    class FailureError(Exception):
+
+        status_code = 400
+        error_type = 'FailureError'
+        documentation_url = 'http://www.example.com'
+
+        def get_message(self):
+            return 'Too much Foo'
+
+    def get(self):
+        raise self.FailureError()
+
+
+class UnexpectedErrorRequestHandler(
+        json_error.JsonErrorMixin, web.RequestHandler):
+
+    def get(self):
+        raise Exception()
+
+
+class TestHTTPError(testing.AsyncHTTPTestCase):
+
+    def get_app(self):
+        return web.Application([('/', HTTPErrorRequestHandler)])
+
+    def test_tornado_thrown_exception(self):
+        response = self.fetch('/')
+        expected = {'message': 'Unexpected Error', 'type': 'Bad Request'}
+        self.assertEqual(json.loads(response.body), expected)
+
+
+class TestCustomExceptions(testing.AsyncHTTPTestCase):
+
+    def get_app(self):
+        return web.Application([('/', CustomExceptionRequestHandler)])
+
+    def test_tornado_custom_exception(self):
+        response = self.fetch('/')
+        expected = {
+            'message': 'Too much Foo',
+            'type': 'FailureError',
+            'documentation_url': 'http://www.example.com',
+        }
+        self.assertEqual(json.loads(response.body), expected)
+
+
+class TestUnexpectedError(testing.AsyncHTTPTestCase):
+
+    def get_app(self):
+        return web.Application([('/', UnexpectedErrorRequestHandler)])
+
+    def test_unexpected_exception(self):
+        response = self.fetch('/')
+        expected = {
+            'message': 'Unexpected Error',
+            'type': 'Internal Server Error'
+        }
+        self.assertEqual(json.loads(response.body), expected)