Possibly the lowest sort of reviewing is the type which borrows overgenerously from the blurb on the highly colored book jacket—that eye-catcher which proudly quotes the welcome bouquets of a favored few who have seen the masterpiece in galleys or in manuscript…. In the case of "A Woman in Sunshine" the yellow jacket is misleading…. It purports to describe a novel concerned chiefly with "a good woman who is also an exciting one."…

The woman in question, Letitia Boldero, is 53 and gravely concerned about the marital status of her two sons, as well as that of the daughter-in-law in question. It is only in the final pages that she herself makes any impression in the field of feminine attractiveness—only because an old friend who is stricken with a painful and apparently fatal illness turns to her for sympathy. It may have something to do with her age, but how many readers will in fact find Letitia anywhere near as "exciting" as they are supposed to? "A Woman in Sunshine" deals primarily with other matters. The impression it leaves is one compounded of the dreariness of London, the ennui of bourgeois married life and the depths to which some scoundrels will descend. Not to mention the author's irony and pity.

Mr. Swinnerton is indeed a trained hand in the art of depicting ugliness in many forms. He is a true master of the repulsive. Most fascinating of all is the way he spins out the workings of a rascal's mind. Letitia and her household despite the intensity of their emotional problems pale before the machinations of her renegade brother, R. F. The ravages of time noted in Letitia's circle are practically non-existent when compared with the revulsion which Mr. Swinnerton's portrayal of her sister-in-law Thelma, her sister Muriel, and her tyrannical invalid mother inspire. Their looks, their mannerisms and their outlook are so repellent as to become at last rather attractive in a morbid sort of way. Mr. Swinnerton's irony is often marked. For that quality his title rivals Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence." (p. 567)

Rivaling this fascination with ugliness, and closely interwoven with it, is a skifully developed story of crime. R. F.'s plans to make away with a very nice nest egg are artfully developed. And he makes use not only of all the powers of attraction he can command from long experience in cadging, but he even mistakenly resorts to terrorization of his sister, Muriel, who at 57 is as pitiful a character as one would ever want to see. The author works it all out so neatly—with increasing suspense and all the rest—that for long stretches "A Woman in Sunshine" qualifies as a real thriller. From these rambling remarks it should be clear at least that Mr. Swinnerton boasts of great gifts in the narrative art. His book is difficult to pigeonhole because of its many angles. Perhaps its most engaging aspect is the study it provides of a cheerfully calculating, rascally mind. (p. 568)