Secret Santa

November 17, 2003
Just in time for the holidays, here are five hardcover treats at stocking-stuffer prices.
SECRET SANTA
Robert Tate Miller
and Beth Polson
. Atria
, $17.95 (160p) ISBN 0-7434-8797-4

Although she's not a complete Scrooge, newspaper reporter Rebecca Chandler has lost her holiday spirit and must force herself through the "merry motions." When her two-timing boyfriend abruptly ends their year-and-a-half-long relationship, she accepts a holiday assignment in the backwater hamlet of Hamden, Ind. Her mission: to find the elusive Secret Santa who, each year, surprises a needy soul with a thoughtful gift. Fed up with fluffy features about three-legged Lassies rescuing their masters, Rebecca decides to do a hard-hitting investigative piece to unveil the mysterious country gift giver. Predictably, the eccentric town characters file away Rebecca's hard city edges until her quest for Secret Santa's identity renews her Christmas cheer. Polson and Miller's breezy prose reads like the script of a mildly entertaining, sentimental made-for-TV movie (after all, he's written movies for the small screen and she's produced them) with the classic yuletide message that "giving is its own reward."

November 15, 2003
Two prominent made-for-TV professionals--she is a producer, he is a writer--collaborate in this little piece of Christmas candy. For cynics, it's a bit too sweet, but for those who get caught up in the Christmas spirit, this tiny gift book will make the perfect treat. " Indianapolis Star" features reporter Rebecca Campbell isn't pleased to be sent to nearby Hamden to cover the town's annual Secret Santa story (think Bill Murray in " Groundhog Day"), where an anonymous resident grants one deserving person's wish every year. Rather than just crank out another corny feature, Rebecca turns the story into an investigative piece in an effort to uncover the generous benefactor. You know the rest: it turns out these small-town folk are actually decent people who find nothing wrong with holiday sentimentality, and despite Rebecca's initial skepticism and ultimate success at tracking down Secret Santa, she finds it unthinkable to expose the unlikely source. Though utterly cliched, this morsel of Christmas drama may well attract the " Chicken Soup for the Soul" crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)