diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ef1b7327c5..d95b351e47 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "crossterm_winapi",
  "libc",
  "mio",
- "parking_lot 0.12.0",
+ "parking_lot 0.12.1",
  "signal-hook",
  "signal-hook-mio",
  "winapi",
@@ -1899,6 +1899,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "metrics",
  "nix",
  "once_cell",
+ "parking_lot 0.12.1",
  "postgres",
  "postgres-protocol",
  "postgres-types",
@@ -1939,9 +1940,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "parking_lot"
-version = "0.12.0"
+version = "0.12.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "87f5ec2493a61ac0506c0f4199f99070cbe83857b0337006a30f3e6719b8ef58"
+checksum = "3742b2c103b9f06bc9fff0a37ff4912935851bee6d36f3c02bcc755bcfec228f"
 dependencies = [
  "lock_api",
  "parking_lot_core 0.9.2",
@@ -2308,7 +2309,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "lazy_static",
  "md5",
  "metrics",
- "parking_lot 0.12.0",
+ "parking_lot 0.12.1",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "rand",
  "rcgen",
@@ -3356,7 +3357,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "fallible-iterator",
  "futures",
  "log",
- "parking_lot 0.12.0",
+ "parking_lot 0.12.1",
  "percent-encoding",
  "phf",
  "pin-project-lite",
diff --git a/pageserver/Cargo.toml b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
index b7d97a67c0..ee3d8b842e 100644
--- a/pageserver/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ workspace_hack = { version = "0.1", path = "../workspace_hack" }
 close_fds = "0.3.2"
 walkdir = "2.3.2"
 
+parking_lot = "0.12.1"
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 hex-literal = "0.3"
 tempfile = "3.2"
diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_cache.rs b/pageserver/src/page_cache.rs
index 716df0f749..5a27adb20b 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_cache.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_cache.rs
@@ -36,13 +36,12 @@
 //! mapping is automatically removed and the slot is marked free.
 //!
 
+use parking_lot::{RwLock, RwLockReadGuard, RwLockWriteGuard};
+
 use std::{
     collections::{hash_map::Entry, HashMap},
     convert::TryInto,
-    sync::{
-        atomic::{AtomicU8, AtomicUsize, Ordering},
-        RwLock, RwLockReadGuard, RwLockWriteGuard, TryLockError,
-    },
+    sync::atomic::{AtomicU8, AtomicUsize, Ordering},
 };
 
 use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
@@ -385,7 +384,7 @@ impl PageCache {
         for slot_idx in 0..self.slots.len() {
             let slot = &self.slots[slot_idx];
 
-            let mut inner = slot.inner.write().unwrap();
+            let mut inner = slot.inner.write();
             if let Some(key) = &inner.key {
                 match key {
                     CacheKey::EphemeralPage { file_id, blkno: _ } if *file_id == drop_file_id => {
@@ -413,7 +412,7 @@ impl PageCache {
         for slot_idx in 0..self.slots.len() {
             let slot = &self.slots[slot_idx];
 
-            let mut inner = slot.inner.write().unwrap();
+            let mut inner = slot.inner.write();
             if let Some(key) = &inner.key {
                 match key {
                     CacheKey::ImmutableFilePage { file_id, blkno: _ }
@@ -454,7 +453,7 @@ impl PageCache {
             // that it's still what we expected (because we released the mapping
             // lock already, another thread could have evicted the page)
             let slot = &self.slots[slot_idx];
-            let inner = slot.inner.read().unwrap();
+            let inner = slot.inner.read();
             if inner.key.as_ref() == Some(cache_key) {
                 slot.inc_usage_count();
                 return Some(PageReadGuard(inner));
@@ -543,7 +542,7 @@ impl PageCache {
             // that it's still what we expected (because we don't released the mapping
             // lock already, another thread could have evicted the page)
             let slot = &self.slots[slot_idx];
-            let inner = slot.inner.write().unwrap();
+            let inner = slot.inner.write();
             if inner.key.as_ref() == Some(cache_key) {
                 slot.inc_usage_count();
                 return Some(PageWriteGuard { inner, valid: true });
@@ -611,7 +610,7 @@ impl PageCache {
     fn search_mapping(&self, cache_key: &mut CacheKey) -> Option<usize> {
         match cache_key {
             CacheKey::MaterializedPage { hash_key, lsn } => {
-                let map = self.materialized_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.materialized_page_map.read();
                 let versions = map.get(hash_key)?;
 
                 let version_idx = match versions.binary_search_by_key(lsn, |v| v.lsn) {
@@ -624,11 +623,11 @@ impl PageCache {
                 Some(version.slot_idx)
             }
             CacheKey::EphemeralPage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let map = self.ephemeral_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.ephemeral_page_map.read();
                 Some(*map.get(&(*file_id, *blkno))?)
             }
             CacheKey::ImmutableFilePage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let map = self.immutable_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.immutable_page_map.read();
                 Some(*map.get(&(*file_id, *blkno))?)
             }
         }
@@ -641,7 +640,7 @@ impl PageCache {
     fn search_mapping_for_write(&self, key: &CacheKey) -> Option<usize> {
         match key {
             CacheKey::MaterializedPage { hash_key, lsn } => {
-                let map = self.materialized_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.materialized_page_map.read();
                 let versions = map.get(hash_key)?;
 
                 if let Ok(version_idx) = versions.binary_search_by_key(lsn, |v| v.lsn) {
@@ -651,11 +650,11 @@ impl PageCache {
                 }
             }
             CacheKey::EphemeralPage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let map = self.ephemeral_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.ephemeral_page_map.read();
                 Some(*map.get(&(*file_id, *blkno))?)
             }
             CacheKey::ImmutableFilePage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let map = self.immutable_page_map.read().unwrap();
+                let map = self.immutable_page_map.read();
                 Some(*map.get(&(*file_id, *blkno))?)
             }
         }
@@ -670,7 +669,7 @@ impl PageCache {
                 hash_key: old_hash_key,
                 lsn: old_lsn,
             } => {
-                let mut map = self.materialized_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.materialized_page_map.write();
                 if let Entry::Occupied(mut old_entry) = map.entry(old_hash_key.clone()) {
                     let versions = old_entry.get_mut();
 
@@ -685,12 +684,12 @@ impl PageCache {
                 }
             }
             CacheKey::EphemeralPage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let mut map = self.ephemeral_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.ephemeral_page_map.write();
                 map.remove(&(*file_id, *blkno))
                     .expect("could not find old key in mapping");
             }
             CacheKey::ImmutableFilePage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let mut map = self.immutable_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.immutable_page_map.write();
                 map.remove(&(*file_id, *blkno))
                     .expect("could not find old key in mapping");
             }
@@ -708,7 +707,7 @@ impl PageCache {
                 hash_key: new_key,
                 lsn: new_lsn,
             } => {
-                let mut map = self.materialized_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.materialized_page_map.write();
                 let versions = map.entry(new_key.clone()).or_default();
                 match versions.binary_search_by_key(new_lsn, |v| v.lsn) {
                     Ok(version_idx) => Some(versions[version_idx].slot_idx),
@@ -725,7 +724,7 @@ impl PageCache {
                 }
             }
             CacheKey::EphemeralPage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let mut map = self.ephemeral_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.ephemeral_page_map.write();
                 match map.entry((*file_id, *blkno)) {
                     Entry::Occupied(entry) => Some(*entry.get()),
                     Entry::Vacant(entry) => {
@@ -735,7 +734,7 @@ impl PageCache {
                 }
             }
             CacheKey::ImmutableFilePage { file_id, blkno } => {
-                let mut map = self.immutable_page_map.write().unwrap();
+                let mut map = self.immutable_page_map.write();
                 match map.entry((*file_id, *blkno)) {
                     Entry::Occupied(entry) => Some(*entry.get()),
                     Entry::Vacant(entry) => {
@@ -765,11 +764,8 @@ impl PageCache {
 
             if slot.dec_usage_count() == 0 {
                 let mut inner = match slot.inner.try_write() {
-                    Ok(inner) => inner,
-                    Err(TryLockError::Poisoned(err)) => {
-                        panic!("buffer lock was poisoned: {:?}", err)
-                    }
-                    Err(TryLockError::WouldBlock) => {
+                    Some(inner) => inner,
+                    None => {
                         // If we have looped through the whole buffer pool 10 times
                         // and still haven't found a victim buffer, something's wrong.
                         // Maybe all the buffers were in locked. That could happen in