diff --git a/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh b/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
index 83a5f4b..094a1cf 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ namespace qpdf
         QPDFObjectHandle operator[](int n) const;
 
         bool contains(std::string const& key) const;
+        size_t erase(std::string const& key);
         QPDFObjectHandle const& operator[](std::string const& key) const;
 
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> copy(bool shallow = false) const;
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
index b416a6a..501ab61 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
@@ -53,11 +53,14 @@ BaseDictionary::getAsMap() const
     return dict()->items;
 }
 
-void
-BaseDictionary::removeKey(std::string const& key)
+size_t
+BaseHandle::erase(const std::string& key)
 {
     // no-op if key does not exist
-    dict()->items.erase(key);
+    if (auto d = as<QPDF_Dictionary>()) {
+        return d->items.erase(key);
+    }
+    return 0;
 }
 
 void
@@ -188,18 +191,16 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::replaceKeyAndGetOld(std::string const& key, QPDFObjectHandle c
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::removeKey(std::string const& key)
 {
-    if (auto dict = as_dictionary(strict)) {
-        dict.removeKey(key);
+    if (erase(key) || isDictionary()) {
         return;
     }
     typeWarning("dictionary", "ignoring key removal request");
-    QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle dictionary ignoring removeKey");
 }
 
 QPDFObjectHandle
 QPDFObjectHandle::removeKeyAndGetOld(std::string const& key)
 {
     auto result = (*this)[key];
-    removeKey(key);
+    erase(key);
     return result ? result : newNull();
 }
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
index 48f12c7..cd71327 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
@@ -122,7 +122,6 @@ namespace qpdf
         // The following methods are not part of the public API.
         std::set<std::string> getKeys();
         std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle> const& getAsMap() const;
-        void removeKey(std::string const& key);
         void replaceKey(std::string const& key, QPDFObjectHandle value);
 
         using iterator = std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle>::iterator;
diff --git a/qpdf/qpdf.testcov b/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
index 1d83c89..a4136fb 100644
--- a/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
+++ b/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
@@ -307,7 +307,6 @@ QPDFObjectHandle dictionary false for hasKey 0
 QPDFObjectHandle dictionary empty set for getKeys 0
 QPDFObjectHandle dictionary empty map for asMap 0
 QPDFObjectHandle dictionary ignoring replaceKey 0
-QPDFObjectHandle dictionary ignoring removeKey 0
 QPDFObjectHandle numeric non-numeric 0
 QPDFObjectHandle erase array bounds 0
 qpdf-c called qpdf_check_pdf 0