diff --git a/nodedb.go b/nodedb.go
index 8c22e06c9..6d4471b60 100644
--- a/nodedb.go
+++ b/nodedb.go
@@ -493,6 +493,7 @@ func (ndb *nodeDB) DeleteVersionsFrom(fromVersion int64) error {
 	ndb.mtx.Lock()
 	for v, r := range ndb.versionReaders {
 		if v >= fromVersion && r != 0 {
+			ndb.mtx.Unlock() // Unlock before exiting
 			return fmt.Errorf("unable to delete version %v with %v active readers", v, r)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/nodedb_test.go b/nodedb_test.go
index bc36ce3ec..531604866 100644
--- a/nodedb_test.go
+++ b/nodedb_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	log "cosmossdk.io/log"
 	db "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-db"
@@ -398,3 +399,47 @@ func makeAndPopulateMutableTree(tb testing.TB) *MutableTree {
 	require.Nil(tb, err, "Expected .SaveVersion to succeed")
 	return tree
 }
+
+func TestDeleteVersionsFromNoDeadlock(t *testing.T) {
+	const expectedVersion = fastStorageVersionValue
+
+	db := db.NewMemDB()
+
+	ndb := newNodeDB(db, 0, DefaultOptions(), log.NewNopLogger())
+	require.Equal(t, defaultStorageVersionValue, ndb.getStorageVersion())
+
+	err := ndb.setFastStorageVersionToBatch()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	latestVersion, err := ndb.getLatestVersion()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, expectedVersion+fastStorageVersionDelimiter+strconv.Itoa(int(latestVersion)), ndb.getStorageVersion())
+	require.NoError(t, ndb.batch.Write())
+
+	// Reported in https://github.com/cosmos/iavl/issues/842
+	// there was a deadlock that triggered on an invalid version being
+	// checked for deletion.
+	// Now add in data to trigger the error path.
+	ndb.versionReaders[latestVersion+1] = 2
+
+	errCh := make(chan error)
+	targetVersion := latestVersion - 1
+
+	go func() {
+		defer close(errCh)
+		errCh <- ndb.DeleteVersionsFrom(targetVersion)
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case err = <-errCh:
+		// Happy path, the mutex was unlocked fast enough.
+
+	case <-time.After(2 * time.Second):
+		t.Error("code did not return even after 2 seconds")
+	}
+
+	require.True(t, ndb.mtx.TryLock(), "tryLock failed mutex was still locked")
+	ndb.mtx.Unlock() // Since TryLock passed, the lock is now solely being held by us.
+	require.Error(t, err, "")
+	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), fmt.Sprintf("unable to delete version %v with 2 active readers", targetVersion+2))
+}