diff --git a/matplotlib_inline/backend_inline.py b/matplotlib_inline/backend_inline.py
index 0e148ac..cc1bfd5 100644
--- a/matplotlib_inline/backend_inline.py
+++ b/matplotlib_inline/backend_inline.py
@@ -96,7 +96,9 @@ def show(close=None, block=None):
         # only call close('all') if any to close
         # close triggers gc.collect, which can be slow
         if close and Gcf.get_all_fig_managers():
-            matplotlib.pyplot.close("all")
+            from matplotlib import pyplot
+
+            pyplot.close("all")
 
 
 # This flag will be reset by draw_if_interactive when called
diff --git a/tests/test_import.py b/tests/test_import.py
index c816b29..56e3285 100644
--- a/tests/test_import.py
+++ b/tests/test_import.py
@@ -2,3 +2,17 @@ def test_import():
     from matplotlib_inline.backend_inline import show
 
     show()
+
+
+def test_show_closes_figures_without_pyplot_attribute(monkeypatch):
+    # gh-24: lazy loaders (e.g. librosa < 0.10.1) can leave matplotlib.pyplot
+    # in sys.modules without setting it as an attribute of matplotlib.
+    import matplotlib
+    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+    from matplotlib_inline.backend_inline import show
+
+    plt.figure()
+    monkeypatch.delattr(matplotlib, "pyplot")
+    show(close=True)
+    assert plt.get_fignums() == []