when the film was released, the staff at "variety" magazine gave the film a mixed review, writing, "there's too much unintended mystery about "a woman's secret" for it to be anything but spotty entertainment ... o’hara gives a straightforward account of herself. grahame carries handicap of bad makeup and unbecoming hairdress, and douglas is too coy as the piano-playing friend. flippen is topnotch as the detective, lifting his scenes, as does mary phillips as his amateur private-eye wife."