diff --git a/fasten-core/src/error.rs b/fasten-core/src/error.rs
index 0234025..a853c1d 100644
--- a/fasten-core/src/error.rs
+++ b/fasten-core/src/error.rs
@@ -65,6 +65,14 @@ pub enum Error {
     /// `fasten_drainer_enqueue` called with no drainer installed.
     #[error("no drainer installed; call fasten_drainer_install first")]
     DrainerNotInstalled,
+
+    /// A host-language insert callback (installed via
+    /// `fasten_store_open_callback`) returned a non-zero rc. The actual
+    /// exception lives on the host side; this variant carries only the
+    /// rc so log lines aren't misattributed (issue #36 — previously
+    /// reported as `InvalidTableName("insert callback rc=1")`).
+    #[error("insert callback returned non-zero rc={0}")]
+    CallbackFailed(i32),
 }
 
 // When neither sqlite nor postgres feature is active, the #[from] impls above
@@ -107,6 +115,7 @@ impl From<&Error> for FastenErrorCode {
             Error::DomainMismatch { .. } => FastenErrorCode::ErrDomainMismatch,
             Error::DuplicateCode(_)    => FastenErrorCode::ErrDuplicateCode,
             Error::DrainerNotInstalled => FastenErrorCode::ErrNullArg,
+            Error::CallbackFailed(_)   => FastenErrorCode::ErrBackend,
             #[cfg(feature = "sqlite")]
             Error::Sqlite(_)           => FastenErrorCode::ErrBackend,
             #[cfg(feature = "postgres")]
diff --git a/fasten-core/src/ffi/mod.rs b/fasten-core/src/ffi/mod.rs
index ff73e10..8d33469 100644
--- a/fasten-core/src/ffi/mod.rs
+++ b/fasten-core/src/ffi/mod.rs
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ impl Store for CallbackStore {
         let json = serde_json::to_string(row)?;
         let cs = CString::new(json).map_err(|_| Error::NullArg)?;
         let rc = unsafe { (self.fn_ptr)(cs.as_ptr(), self.ud.0) };
-        if rc != 0 { Err(Error::InvalidTableName(format!("insert callback rc={rc}"))) }
+        if rc != 0 { Err(Error::CallbackFailed(rc)) }
         else { Ok(()) }
     }
     fn ping(&self) -> Result<(), Error> { Ok(()) }
@@ -461,3 +461,58 @@ pub extern "C" fn fasten_store_version() -> *const c_char {
         })
         .as_ptr()
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use crate::row::Row;
+    use crate::store::Store;
+
+    /// Regression for issue #36 — Bug 2: when a host-language insert
+    /// callback returns non-zero, CallbackStore must report
+    /// `CallbackFailed(rc)`, not `InvalidTableName("insert callback rc=N")`.
+    /// The old wording ran an SQL-identifier validation regex against
+    /// what was actually a free-form error message, masking the real
+    /// host-side exception (compounded with Bug 1 — see python's
+    /// _insert_cb test for the round-trip half).
+    #[test]
+    fn callback_store_failure_reports_callback_failed_variant() {
+        // Returns a non-zero rc to simulate a host-side callback that
+        // caught its own exception and surfaced an error code.
+        extern "C" fn failing_cb(
+            _json: *const c_char,
+            _ud: *mut std::ffi::c_void,
+        ) -> i32 {
+            7  // arbitrary non-zero
+        }
+        let store = CallbackStore {
+            fn_ptr: failing_cb,
+            ud: SendRawPtr(std::ptr::null_mut()),
+        };
+        let row = Row::default();
+        let err = store.insert(&row).expect_err("non-zero rc must error");
+        assert!(
+            matches!(err, Error::CallbackFailed(7)),
+            "expected CallbackFailed(7); got {err:?} \
+             (formatted: {err})",
+        );
+        // And the human-readable form is what an adopter actually sees
+        // in their `audit_drain_failed` log line — no "table name" noise.
+        assert_eq!(err.to_string(), "insert callback returned non-zero rc=7");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn callback_store_success_returns_ok() {
+        extern "C" fn ok_cb(
+            _json: *const c_char,
+            _ud: *mut std::ffi::c_void,
+        ) -> i32 {
+            0
+        }
+        let store = CallbackStore {
+            fn_ptr: ok_cb,
+            ud: SendRawPtr(std::ptr::null_mut()),
+        };
+        assert!(store.insert(&Row::default()).is_ok());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/python/fasten/engine.py b/python/fasten/engine.py
index 577636e..0ec0cac 100644
--- a/python/fasten/engine.py
+++ b/python/fasten/engine.py
@@ -505,13 +505,27 @@ def _install_drainer(
         max_attempts: int,
     ) -> None:
         # Build an insert callback that delegates to the Python store.
+        # The row crosses Python → JSON → Rust queue → Python here, so
+        # `timestamp` / `shipped_at` arrive as ISO strings and have to
+        # be parsed back to `datetime` before the store's `_utc_iso`
+        # tries to read `.tzinfo` (issue #36).
+        cb_logger = logging.getLogger("fasten")
+
         def _insert_cb(row_json: bytes, _userdata: int) -> int:
+            row_dict: dict[str, Any] = {}
             try:
                 row_dict = json.loads(row_json.decode("utf-8"))
+                for fld in ("timestamp", "shipped_at"):
+                    v = row_dict.get(fld)
+                    if isinstance(v, str):
+                        row_dict[fld] = datetime.fromisoformat(v.replace("Z", "+00:00"))
                 row = AuditRow(**{k: row_dict[k] for k in AuditRow.__dataclass_fields__ if k in row_dict})
                 store.insert(row)
                 return 0
-            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001
+            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 — store / drainer reports the dead-letter outcome
+                cb_logger.exception(
+                    "insert_cb failed for row %s", row_dict.get("id", "<unparsed>"),
+                )
                 return 1
 
         cb = _ffi.InsertCallbackFn(_insert_cb)
diff --git a/python/tests/test_engine_init.py b/python/tests/test_engine_init.py
index 3b414fd..7ee9f1c 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_engine_init.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_engine_init.py
@@ -186,6 +186,62 @@ def test_log_falls_back_to_stdlib_before_init(caplog):
     assert any("startup_probe" in r.message for r in caplog.records)
 
 
+# ── issue #36: datetime round-trip through the drainer ───────────────────
+
+
+def test_issue_36_drainer_reconstructs_datetime_from_json_roundtrip():
+    """Regression for #36.
+
+    fasten.emit -> JSON -> Rust queue -> Python _insert_cb is the
+    audit row's round-trip through the drainer. After json.loads(),
+    ``timestamp`` arrives as an ISO string, not a ``datetime``. Any
+    store implementation that calls ``_utc_iso(row.timestamp)`` (both
+    PostgresStore and SQLiteStore do) then crashes on
+    ``AttributeError: 'str' has no attribute 'tzinfo'`` — and because
+    ``_insert_cb`` swallows exceptions and returns 1, the row is
+    silently dead-lettered after retry-exhaustion.
+
+    The fix reconstructs the two datetime fields in ``_insert_cb``
+    before constructing ``AuditRow``. This test exercises the
+    queue-mode path end-to-end and asserts the store receives the
+    row with a real datetime instance (not a str).
+    """
+    from datetime import datetime as _datetime
+
+    received: list = []
+
+    class _CapturingStore:
+        def insert(self, row) -> None:
+            received.append(row)
+        def count(self, **_) -> int:
+            return len(received)
+        def max_monotonic_seq(self) -> int:
+            return 0
+
+    fasten.init(
+        service_id="svc", node_id="n",
+        audit_store=_CapturingStore(),
+        audit_store_failure_strategy="queue",
+    )
+    fasten.emit(code="USER_CREATED", target="u-1")
+    assert fasten.flush(timeout=2.0), "flush should drain the row"
+
+    assert len(received) == 1, (
+        "row should land via the drainer's _insert_cb; if zero, the "
+        "drainer dead-lettered the row after exception (the #36 bug)"
+    )
+    row = received[0]
+    assert isinstance(row.timestamp, _datetime), (
+        f"row.timestamp must be a datetime after the drainer round-trip "
+        f"(got {type(row.timestamp).__name__!r}); downstream "
+        "_utc_iso(row.timestamp) reads .tzinfo and crashes on a str"
+    )
+    assert row.timestamp.tzinfo is not None, (
+        "reconstructed timestamp must be tz-aware so PostgresStore / "
+        "SQLiteStore can serialise it without a naive-datetime detour"
+    )
+
+
 # ── sync fallback with no drainer ─────────────────────────────────────────