Santa, Baby: Hot Toy, by Jennifer Crusie

Jennifer Crusie's novella Hot Toy, the first story in St. Martin's new collection Santa, Baby, is as cute as the proverbial button. I couldn't believe how much Crusie packed into a mere 111 pages—her book was the only Christmas story I've ever read that featured an Alfred Hitchcock reference (the hot toy of the title, which all of the characters are obsessed with, is the Major MacGuffin, The Tough One Two action figure), Chinese double agents, and gin-soaked gumdrops. Hot Toy was funny, sweet (well, as sweet as Crusie ever gets), and the perfect way to while away a pre-holiday hour or two.

Unfortunately, I found the other two novellas in the collection to be nearly unreadable. To be fair, starting with the Crusie story meant that my standards were set quite high, and I might have enjoyed the other two novellas more if they'd been released independently (or, at least, if I'd read them before I read Crusie's contribution). As it is, one can only hope that St. Martins will eventually re-package Crusie's story and sell it individually. Hot Toy is adorably weird enough to become a holiday classic, but first it needs to shake off the dead weight.