diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Exceptions/ApiExceptionTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Exceptions/ApiExceptionTests.cs
index ec4afe61..4115bfce 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Exceptions/ApiExceptionTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Exceptions/ApiExceptionTests.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-using System.IO;
+using System;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Net;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
@@ -13,6 +14,33 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Exceptions
     {
         public class TheConstructor
         {
+            [Fact]
+            public void SetsDefaultExceptionMessage()
+            {
+                var exception = new ApiException();
+                Assert.Equal("An error occurred with this API request", exception.Message);
+            }
+
+            [Fact]
+            public void SetsSpecifiedExceptionMessageAndInnerException()
+            {
+                var inner = new InvalidOperationException();
+                
+                var exception = new ApiException("Shit broke", inner);
+                
+                Assert.Equal("Shit broke", exception.Message);
+                Assert.Same(inner, exception.InnerException);
+            }
+
+            [Fact]
+            public void SetsSpecifiedExceptionMessageAndStatusCode()
+            {
+                var exception = new ApiException("Shit still broke", HttpStatusCode.Gone);
+
+                Assert.Equal("Shit still broke", exception.Message);
+                Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.Gone, exception.StatusCode);
+            }
+
             [Fact]
             public void CreatesGitHubErrorFromJsonResponse()
             {
diff --git a/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs b/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
index 2aa9fe72..85a1db47 100644
--- a/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,16 @@ namespace Octokit
         {
         }
 
+        public ApiException(string message, HttpStatusCode httpStatusCode)
+            : this(new ApiResponse<object> {Body = message, StatusCode = httpStatusCode})
+        {
+        }
+
+        public ApiException(string message, Exception innerException)
+            : this(new ApiResponse<object> { Body = message }, innerException)
+        {
+        }
+
         public ApiException(IResponse response)
             : this(response, null)
         {
@@ -36,7 +46,7 @@ namespace Octokit
 
         public override string Message
         {
-            get { return ApiErrorMessageSafe ?? "Request Forbidden"; }
+            get { return ApiErrorMessageSafe ?? "An error occurred with this API request"; }
         }
 
         public HttpStatusCode StatusCode { get; private set; }
diff --git a/Octokit/Exceptions/ForbiddenException.cs b/Octokit/Exceptions/ForbiddenException.cs
index c99af59b..efc16737 100644
--- a/Octokit/Exceptions/ForbiddenException.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Exceptions/ForbiddenException.cs
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ namespace Octokit
                 "ForbiddenException created with wrong status code");
         }
 
+        public override string Message
+        {
+            get { return ApiErrorMessageSafe ?? "Request Forbidden"; }
+        }
     
 #if !NETFX_CORE
         protected ForbiddenException(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)