The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

First Published 1953

The first in the author's "Robot" series begins with a murder investigation. Earth has become so overpopulated that the surface is essentially one big city covered in steel. Our protagonist, Elijah Baley, is not a big fan of robots, but he is assigned one to be his partner in the investigation. Asimov's robots have been created with positronic brains programmed with three immutable laws: 1) A robot may not injure a human, nor, through inaction, allow a human to be harmed. 2) A robot must obey the commands of a human unless it violates the first law. 3) A robot must protect itself unless by doing so it would violate either of the first two laws. And yet, the evidence indicates that the murder may have been committed by a robot. Excellent sci-fi murder mystery. Read this before the other robot novels. I first read this in the 80's when it was already nearly 30 years old. Although showing its age, one has to acknowledge the pioneering role it plays in the canon of science fiction.