diff --git a/detect.go b/detect.go
index 232a0255..50ccbecd 100644
--- a/detect.go
+++ b/detect.go
@@ -9,11 +9,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/paketo-buildpacks/packit/internal"
 )
 
-// Fail is a sentinal value that can be used to indicate a failure to detect
-// during the detect phase. Fail implements the Error interface and should be
-// returned as the error value in the DetectFunc signature.
-var Fail = internal.Fail
-
 // DetectContext provides the contextual details that are made available by the
 // buildpack lifecycle during the detect phase. This context is populated by
 // the Detect function and passed to the DetectFunc during execution.
diff --git a/detect_test.go b/detect_test.go
index b7cfe227..d5b2d1ac 100644
--- a/detect_test.go
+++ b/detect_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package packit_test
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
@@ -230,14 +231,24 @@ some-key = "some-value"
 	context("when the DetectFunc fails", func() {
 		it("calls the ExitHandler with the correct exit code", func() {
 			var exitCode int
+			buffer := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
 
 			packit.Detect(func(ctx packit.DetectContext) (packit.DetectResult, error) {
-				return packit.DetectResult{}, packit.Fail
-			}, packit.WithArgs([]string{binaryPath, "", ""}), packit.WithExitHandler(internal.NewExitHandler(internal.WithExitHandlerExitFunc(func(code int) {
-				exitCode = code
-			}))))
+				return packit.DetectResult{}, packit.Fail.WithMessage("failure message")
+			},
+				packit.WithArgs([]string{binaryPath, "", ""}),
+				packit.WithExitHandler(
+					internal.NewExitHandler(
+						internal.WithExitHandlerExitFunc(func(code int) {
+							exitCode = code
+						}),
+						internal.WithExitHandlerStderr(buffer),
+					),
+				),
+			)
 
 			Expect(exitCode).To(Equal(100))
+			Expect(buffer.String()).To(Equal("failure message\n"))
 		})
 	})
 
diff --git a/fail.go b/fail.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ae69c0bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fail.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package packit
+
+import "github.com/paketo-buildpacks/packit/internal"
+
+// Fail is a sentinal value that can be used to indicate a failure to detect
+// during the detect phase. Fail implements the Error interface and should be
+// returned as the error value in the DetectFunc signature. Fail also supports
+// a modifier function, WithMessage, that allows the caller to set a custom
+// failure message. The WithMessage function supports a fmt.Printf-like format
+// string and variadic arguments to build a message, eg:
+// packit.Fail.WithMessage("failed: %w", err).
+var Fail = internal.Fail
diff --git a/internal/exit_handler.go b/internal/exit_handler.go
index 9e4f480e..8bb1306a 100644
--- a/internal/exit_handler.go
+++ b/internal/exit_handler.go
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
 package internal
 
 import (
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 )
 
-var Fail = errors.New("failed")
-
 type Option func(handler ExitHandler) ExitHandler
 
 func WithExitHandlerStderr(stderr io.Writer) Option {
@@ -57,8 +54,8 @@ func (h ExitHandler) Error(err error) {
 	fmt.Fprintln(h.stderr, err)
 
 	var code int
-	switch err {
-	case Fail:
+	switch err.(type) {
+	case failError:
 		code = 100
 	case nil:
 		code = 0
diff --git a/internal/fail.go b/internal/fail.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b1393759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/fail.go
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package internal
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+var Fail = failError{error: errors.New("failed")}
+
+type failError struct {
+	error
+}
+
+func (f failError) WithMessage(format string, v ...interface{}) failError {
+	return failError{error: fmt.Errorf(format, v...)}
+}
diff --git a/internal/fail_test.go b/internal/fail_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..055aeb65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/fail_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package internal_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/paketo-buildpacks/packit/internal"
+	"github.com/sclevine/spec"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+func testFail(t *testing.T, context spec.G, it spec.S) {
+	var (
+		Expect = NewWithT(t).Expect
+	)
+
+	it("acts as an error", func() {
+		fail := internal.Fail
+		Expect(fail).To(MatchError("failed"))
+	})
+
+	context("when given a message", func() {
+		it("acts as an error with that message", func() {
+			fail := internal.Fail.WithMessage("this is a %s", "failure message")
+			Expect(fail).To(MatchError("this is a failure message"))
+		})
+	})
+}
diff --git a/internal/init_test.go b/internal/init_test.go
index e30c9e54..baf05c62 100644
--- a/internal/init_test.go
+++ b/internal/init_test.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ func TestUnitInternal(t *testing.T) {
 	suite := spec.New("packit/internal", spec.Report(report.Terminal{}))
 	suite("EnvironmentWriter", testEnvironmentWriter)
 	suite("ExitHandler", testExitHandler)
+	suite("Fail", testFail)
 	suite("TOMLWriter", testTOMLWriter)
 	suite.Run(t)
 }