Transition is the book you should read before starting the Inspector Dalton series. This book plus book 11 of the Evaran series sets the stage for Otherworld: Book 1 of “The Inspector Dalton Files” series and develops its principal character, Inspector Dalton. In Transition, Dalton is starting work for Earth Ward, an organization that’s made up of earth-based non-humans and represents Earth in the Kregan Inter-Stellar Empire. In this book, Dalton meets two of the individuals that he will ultimately add to a new investigative team that was created in “Otherworld”. Unfortunately, I read Otherworld before reading Transition which resulted in my being a little confused by some of the references made in the Dalton series’ first book.

Dalton takes on his first case solo in this book and learns that protecting humans against opportunistic non-humans is tougher than he thought it would be. Going out of his way to avoid bloodshed, he ends up with the death of one of Earth Ward’s safe house employees. Fortunately, despite the loss, the case leads to the elimination of one of Earth’s major crime syndicates, the freedom of imprisoned rivals, and the freedom of exploited non-humans.

The book has action as well as cerebral moments that call on Dalton to balance human protection against the rights of non-humans. Transition is a short book, taking me, a slow reader, about five hours to complete. ( )