diff --git a/tests/libqtest.c b/tests/libqtest.c
index a5c3d2bf48..99b1195355 100644
--- a/tests/libqtest.c
+++ b/tests/libqtest.c
@@ -167,6 +167,14 @@ QTestState *qtest_init_without_qmp_handshake(const char *extra_args)
     socket_path = g_strdup_printf("/tmp/qtest-%d.sock", getpid());
     qmp_socket_path = g_strdup_printf("/tmp/qtest-%d.qmp", getpid());
 
+    /* It's possible that if an earlier test run crashed it might
+     * have left a stale unix socket lying around. Delete any
+     * stale old socket to avoid spurious test failures with
+     * tests/libqtest.c:70:init_socket: assertion failed (ret != -1): (-1 != -1)
+     */
+    unlink(socket_path);
+    unlink(qmp_socket_path);
+
     sock = init_socket(socket_path);
     qmpsock = init_socket(qmp_socket_path);