diff --git a/mapstructure.go b/mapstructure.go
index ec0941e..35b11df 100644
--- a/mapstructure.go
+++ b/mapstructure.go
@@ -92,8 +92,27 @@
 			name, dataValType.Key().Kind())
 	}
 
-	// Just go ahead and set one map to the other...
-	val.Set(dataVal)
+	valType := val.Type()
+	valKeyType := valType.Key()
+	valElemType := valType.Elem()
+
+	// Make a new map to hold our result
+	mapType := reflect.MapOf(valKeyType, valElemType)
+	valMap := reflect.MakeMap(mapType)
+
+	for _, k := range dataVal.MapKeys() {
+		currentData := dataVal.MapIndex(k).Interface()
+		currentVal := reflect.Indirect(reflect.New(valElemType))
+
+		fieldName := fmt.Sprintf("%s[%s]", name, k)
+		if err := decode(fieldName, currentData, currentVal); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		valMap.SetMapIndex(k, currentVal)
+	}
+
+	val.Set(valMap)
 
 	return nil
 }
@@ -139,32 +158,25 @@
 			name, dataValType.Key().Kind())
 	}
 
-	// At this point we know that data is a map with string keys, so
-	// we can properly cast it here. We use the "Interface()" value because
-	// this gets us the proper interface whether or not data is a pointer
-	// or not.
-	m, ok := dataVal.Interface().(map[string]interface{})
-	if !ok {
-		panic("data could not be cast as map[string]interface{}")
-	}
-
 	valType := val.Type()
 	for i := 0; i < valType.NumField(); i++ {
 		fieldType := valType.Field(i)
 		fieldName := fieldType.Name
 
-		rawMapVal, ok := m[fieldName]
-		if !ok {
+		rawMapVal := dataVal.MapIndex(reflect.ValueOf(fieldName))
+		if !rawMapVal.IsValid() {
 			// Do a slower search by iterating over each key and
 			// doing case-insensitive search.
-			for mK, mV := range m {
+			for _, dataKeyVal := range dataVal.MapKeys() {
+				mK := dataKeyVal.Interface().(string)
+
 				if strings.EqualFold(mK, fieldName) {
-					rawMapVal = mV
+					rawMapVal = dataVal.MapIndex(dataKeyVal)
 					break
 				}
 			}
 
-			if rawMapVal == nil {
+			if !rawMapVal.IsValid() {
 				// There was no matching key in the map for the value in
 				// the struct. Just ignore.
 				continue
@@ -178,7 +190,7 @@
 		}
 
 		fieldName = fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", name, fieldName)
-		if err := decode(fieldName, rawMapVal, field); err != nil {
+		if err := decode(fieldName, rawMapVal.Interface(), field); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/mapstructure_test.go b/mapstructure_test.go
index df98537..e913b6c 100644
--- a/mapstructure_test.go
+++ b/mapstructure_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@
 
 type Map struct {
 	Vfoo   string
-	Vother map[string]interface{}
+	Vother map[string]string
+}
+
+type MapOfStruct struct {
+	Value map[string]Basic
 }
 
 type Nested struct {
@@ -67,8 +71,8 @@
 	input := map[string]interface{}{
 		"vfoo": "foo",
 		"vother": map[string]interface{}{
-			"foo": 42,
-			"bar": true,
+			"foo": "foo",
+			"bar": "bar",
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -92,12 +96,47 @@
 		t.Error("vother should have two items")
 	}
 
-	if result.Vother["foo"].(int) != 42 {
-		t.Errorf("'foo' key should be 42, got: %#v", result.Vother["foo"])
+	if result.Vother["foo"] != "foo" {
+		t.Errorf("'foo' key should be foo, got: %#v", result.Vother["foo"])
 	}
 
-	if result.Vother["bar"].(bool) != true {
-		t.Errorf("'bar' key should be true, got: %#v", result.Vother["bar"])
+	if result.Vother["bar"] != "bar" {
+		t.Errorf("'bar' key should be bar, got: %#v", result.Vother["bar"])
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMapOfStruct(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	input := map[string]interface{}{
+		"value": map[string]interface{}{
+			"foo": map[string]string{"vstring": "one"},
+			"bar": map[string]string{"vstring": "two"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	var result MapOfStruct
+	err := Decode(input, &result)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("got an err: %s", err)
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+
+	if result.Value == nil {
+		t.Error("value should not be nil")
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+
+	if len(result.Value) != 2 {
+		t.Error("value should have two items")
+	}
+
+	if result.Value["foo"].Vstring != "one" {
+		t.Errorf("foo value should be 'one', got: %s", result.Value["foo"].Vstring)
+	}
+
+	if result.Value["bar"].Vstring != "two" {
+		t.Errorf("bar value should be 'two', got: %s", result.Value["bar"].Vstring)
 	}
 }