Brown, Ashley. "The Early Fiction of Peter Taylor," in The Sewanee Review, Vol. LXX, No. 4, Autumn, 1962, pp. 588-602.

Brown perceives Mr. Speed as a symbol of both Elizabeth's fear of men and the breakdown of civilized behavior, and considers family dissolution as a key theme in "A Spinster's Tale."

Creekmore, Hubert. Review in The New York Times Book Review, March 21, 1948, pp. 6.

An early review praising Taylor's first collection, particularly his depiction of the deterioration of urban family life.

Pinkerton, Jan. "The Non-Regionalism of Peter Taylor," The Georgia Review, Vol. 24, No. 4, Winter, 1970, pp. 432-40.

Pinkerton argues that Taylor's story possesses universal themes that transcend its Southern setting.

Robison, James Curry. "The Early Period," in Peter Taylor: A Study of the Short Fiction, Twayne, 1988, pp. 19-31.

Robison focuses on the character of Betsy in "A Spinster's Tale" and her rejection of sex, death, and the passage of time...