diff --git a/mempalace/query_sanitizer.py b/mempalace/query_sanitizer.py
index f86a621..b320e9c 100644
--- a/mempalace/query_sanitizer.py
+++ b/mempalace/query_sanitizer.py
@@ -69,11 +69,15 @@ def sanitize_query(raw_query: str) -> dict:
 
     def _strip_wrapping_quotes(candidate: str) -> str:
         candidate = candidate.strip()
-        while candidate[:1] in {"'", '"'} and candidate[-1:] in {"'", '"'}:
-            candidate = candidate.strip("\"'")
+        while len(candidate) >= 2 and candidate[:1] in {"'", '"'} and candidate[-1:] in {"'", '"'}:
+            candidate = candidate[1:-1].strip()
             if not candidate:
                 return ""
-        return candidate.strip("\"'")
+        if candidate[:1] in {"'", '"'}:
+            candidate = candidate[1:].strip()
+        if candidate[-1:] in {"'", '"'}:
+            candidate = candidate[:-1].strip()
+        return candidate
 
     def _trim_candidate(candidate: str) -> str:
         candidate = _strip_wrapping_quotes(candidate)
diff --git a/tests/test_query_sanitizer.py b/tests/test_query_sanitizer.py
index 015a8a1..dd96cfa 100644
--- a/tests/test_query_sanitizer.py
+++ b/tests/test_query_sanitizer.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ class TestTailSentence:
         query = ("Prefix text " * 30) + '\n"' + ("x" * 260) + '"'
         result = sanitize_query(query)
         assert result["method"] == "tail_sentence"
+        assert result["clean_query"] == "x" * MAX_QUERY_LENGTH
         assert not result["clean_query"].startswith('"')
         assert not result["clean_query"].endswith('"')
         assert len(result["clean_query"]) <= MAX_QUERY_LENGTH