A Mixture of Frailties is often called a transitional novel in Davies's oeuvre. It appeared in 1958; Davies's next novel would be published twelve years later.

In the interim, Davies would be busy with academic administrative duties as the first Master of Massey College in the University of Toronto. A Mixture of Frailties is in the style of the first two novels in the Salterton trilogy. There is little experimentation with point of view; there are a number of vivid scenes, which a reader can almost envision as scenes from a play. However, certain themes and issues emerge here which will be important in later works: the relationship between a novice and an older mentor, the position of Canada in western world culture, allegorical patterns in life and in art, and the psychological inevitability of the deaths of certain characters. All of these present topics for discussion...