diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 2f1cbe5..52f1310 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 var childProcess = require('child_process'),
-    events = require('events'),    
-    os = require('os'),    
+    events = require('events'),
+    os = require('os'),
     util = require('util');
 
 
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ WorkerState = {
 module.exports.WorkerState = WorkerState;
 
 /**
- * Encapsulates a worker process. Manages state and notifying listeners of 
+ * Encapsulates a worker process. Manages state and notifying listeners of
  * changes in state.
  */
 function Worker(workerScript) {
     this.process = childProcess.fork(workerScript);
-    this.pid = this.process.pid;    
+    this.pid = this.process.pid;
     this.status = WorkerState.STARTING;
 
     this.process.once('message', this.onReady.bind(this));
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Worker.prototype.onMessage = function (callback, message) {
     callback(message);
 
     this.status = WorkerState.READY;
-    this.emit('ready', this);    
+    this.emit('ready', this);
 };
 
 Worker.prototype.send = function (message, callback) {
@@ -51,67 +51,110 @@ Worker.prototype.send = function (message, callback) {
 module.exports.Worker = Worker;
 
 
-function WorkQueue(workerScript, nWorkers) {
+function WorkQueue(workerScript, nWorkers, options) {
     this.workers = [];
     this.queue = [];
-
-    var self = this;
-    function fork() {    
-        var worker = new Worker(workerScript);
-
-        worker.on('ready', self._run.bind(self));
-
-        worker.process.on('exit', function (code, signal) {
-            if (code !== 0) { // Code will be non-zero if process dies suddenly
-                console.warn('Worker process ' + worker.pid + ' died. Respawning...');
-                for (var i = 0; i < self.workers.length; i++) {
-                    if (self.workers[i].pid === worker.pid) {
-                        self.workers.splice(i, 1); // Remove dead worker from pool.
-                    }
-                }            
-                fork(); // FTW!
-            }
-        });
-
-        self.workers.push(worker);
-    } 
+    this.options = options || {};
+    this.workerScript = workerScript;
 
     nWorkers = nWorkers || os.cpus().length;
     console.log('Starting ' + nWorkers + ' workers..');
     for (var i = 0; i < nWorkers; i++) {
-        fork();
+        this.fork(workerScript);
     }
 }
 
+WorkQueue.prototype.fork = function() {
+    var self = this;
+
+    var worker = new Worker(this.workerScript);
+
+    worker.on('ready', self._run.bind(self));
+
+    worker.process.on('exit', function (code, signal) {
+        if (code !== 0) { // Code will be non-zero if process dies suddenly
+            console.warn('Worker process ' + worker.pid + ' died with code ' + code + '. Respawning...');
+            for (var i = 0; i < self.workers.length; i++) {
+                if (self.workers[i].pid === worker.pid) {
+                    self.workers.splice(i, 1); // Remove dead worker from pool.
+                }
+            }
+            self.fork(this.workerScript); // FTW!
+        } else {
+            console.warn("Dead on purpose, code: " + code);
+        }
+    });
+
+    self.workers.push(worker);
+}
+
 /**
  * Enqueue a task for a worker process to handle. A task can be any type of var,
  * as long your worker script knows what to do with it.
  */
-WorkQueue.prototype.enqueue = function (task, callback) {
-    this.queue.push({ task: task, callback: callback });
+WorkQueue.prototype.enqueue = function (task, timeout, callback) {
+    if(!callback) {
+        callback = timeout;
+        timeout = null;
+    }
+
+    this.queue.push({ task: task, callback: callback, timeout: timeout });
     process.nextTick(this._run.bind(this));
 };
 
-WorkQueue.prototype._run = function (worker) {    
+WorkQueue.prototype._run = function (worker) {
     if (this.queue.length === 0) {
         return; // nothing to do
-    } 
+    }
 
-    if (!worker) {        
-        // Find the first available worker. 
-        for (var i = 0; i < this.workers.length; i++) {        
+    if (!worker) {
+        // Find the first available worker.
+        for (var i = 0; i < this.workers.length; i++) {
             if (this.workers[i].status === WorkerState.READY) {
-                worker = this.workers[i];            
+                worker = this.workers[i];
                 break;
             }
         }
     }
 
-    if (!worker) {        
-        return; // there are no workers available to handle requests. Leave queue as is.
+    if (!worker) {
+        if(this.options.autoexpand) {
+            // if maxWorkers is set, make sure we don't exceed it
+            if(this.options.maxWorkers && this.workers.length > this.options.maxWorkers) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            console.warn("Ran out of workers, forking another");
+            this.fork(this.workerScript);
+
+            return;
+        } else {
+            return; // there are no workers available to handle requests. Leave queue as is.
+        }
+    }
+
+    var queued = this.queue.shift();
+    var callback = null;
+    var self = this;
+
+    if(queued.timeout) {
+        var timeoutId = null;
+
+        callback = function() {
+            clearTimeout(timeoutId);
+
+            queued.callback.apply(this, arguments);
+        };
+
+        timeoutId = setTimeout(function() {
+            worker.process.kill('SIGINT');
+
+            callback.call(this, (self.options.timeoutResult || {}));
+        }, queued.timeout);
+    } else {
+        callback = queued.callback;
     }
 
-    var queued = this.queue.shift(); 
-    worker.send(queued.task, queued.callback);   
+    worker.send(queued.task, callback);
 };
 module.exports.WorkQueue = WorkQueue;