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Asimov combines the mystery genre and many of his futurist ideas together in this series. You'll enter a world where people live underground because there isn't enough living space, and where many people have grown resentful of robots that are taking over jobs that humans once held. Not only do you get to experience a great mystery-adventure, but you're also exploring the social consequences of near-human robots and the continued urbanization of the Earth.
Daneel Olivaw, the robot partner to detective Elijah Baley, is one of the most memorable characters in the field of speculative fiction.
This is the best place to start reading Asimov. If you enjoy this, you will absolutely love the sequels. After reading the Robots books, try the Foundation series, which starts slower but gets very good--and ultimately rewards readers of the Robot books by tieing it all together.
At first glance, we have Elijah Bailey, the earther, a New Yorker of the future who lives in the vast underground city. Bailey is a cop put on the case of a murdered Spacer (those humans who have settled other planets). Bailey is teamed with another investigator R. Daneel Olivaw who we find out later, is a robot.
More than just your basic whodunit, this book deals with larger issues of the differences between people that keep them in fear and mistrust of each other. The Spacers who have embraced the outside world, who have embraced technology and robotics live in fear of the humans who stayed on earth. Those humans who live in extremely close contact with each other in teeming underground cities as they've all developed a fear of the open sky. The earthers loathe the Spacers for their superiority complex and the Spacers fear contamination from the earthers.
Bailey must overcome these inbred fears and bigotries when he must travel off planet with his partner, a robot, to deal with and solve a murder of a Spacer. Olivaw (who is a recurring character in many Asimov books) sort of becomes Bailey's moral compass and our guide through the physical and emotional journey Bailey takes.
The book is a quick read and it's good old sci fi at its best. I recommend also reading "The Naked Sun" and "The Robots of Dawn" which also feature Bailey and Olivaw.