Oline Cogdill

kellermanjon_victimsI worry about Milo Sturgis' eating habits.

It's not that I stay up nights fretting about Milo, the L.A. detective who is psychologist Alex Delaware's sidekick in Jonathan Kellerman's novels, the latest of which is Victims.

But Milo packs away a lot of food and I worry that his over mega meals.

It's also a chance to live vicariously as Milo goes through practically an entire buffet at an Indian restaurant, waxes poetic about a pizza, longs for a special breakfast. Leftovers are not a problem because Milo will make sure they are cleaned out.

I appreciate Milo's zest for food and I admit to a bit of vicarious living through the detective's eating habits.

After all, as described by Kellerman, Milo is a big guy—a "bear of a man" who is at least 6-foot-3, weighing 240 to 260 pounds.

Despite his love of food, Milo never comes across as a glutton.

Instead, he's a bit of a foodie, who embraces all kinds of food, from fine dining to fast food.

Even when he's downing a quart of orange juice and a quart of milk, it doesn't seem excessive.

At least not for Milo.

Next to Blanche, the adorable French bulldog, Milo is my favorite character in Kellerman's series.

In creating this big, insightful detective, Kellerman never stooped to clichés. Milo may have been one of the first openly gay detectives in a crime fiction novel written by a straight author. Milo's sexuality is weaved into every story as naturally as Alex's relationship with his girlfriend, Robin.

Milo has been in a 22-year relationship with Richard Silverman, the head ER surgeon at a hospital. Like Robin, Rick stays in the background, occasionally on the phone or at a restaurant when he and Milo double date with Alex and Robin.

Each Alex Delaware novel leaves me wanting more of Milo.

While the Alex and Milo team has been Kellerman's main series, the author took a mini break when he introduced half-brothers Aaron Fox and Moses Reed in intriguing True Detectives. Since that novel, Aaron and Moses make frequent appearances in the Alex Delaware series.

I think it's time that Kellerman focused a novel on Milo.

Wouldn't you love to know more about Milo, his family, his early life, how he and Rick met? I know I would.

Milo deserves no less.

jonathan-kellermans-milo
2458