The Santa Sleuth by Heather MacAllister

Amanda Donnelly just wants to move to the next level of reporting (the hard stuff! Isn't it always?) but is relegated to fluff. For example, her current assignment of picking a child who will rate the Santas around Houston. She wants a bright child with all their teeth but ends up with Virginia who is missing a tooth and who seems to bedevil her teachers/principal though that was very much a case of Show, not Tell since she doesn't seem unusual except for being fairly precocious and creating a lot of the pivot points for the plot.
Of course, (this is a romance novel, after all) Virginia has a single father, Kirk, who relies on his coterie of assistants to help take care of his daughter but seems to deny it. He also demonstrates questionable decision making when he sends Virginia out on location with Amanda after having met her once (maybe it was twice, but still.)
I did finish the story and if you're looking for something sweet and easy to read, this book will be it. It was just a little too sweet for me.

Two and a half stars

This book came out November 1st, 1994 (this explains a LOT)

Got as a free book from Kindle

Opinions are my own