A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course
of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the
positronic brain.On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a
handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every
need attended to by their faithful robot servants.To this strange and
provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets
of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to
solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its
foundations.The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his
associates only through holographic projection.Yet someone had gotten
close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.Now Baley
and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian
was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of
Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she
never came into his presence!"