Addendum: I was thinking about this story this morning. Asimov has a substantial section where Bailey and R. Daneel go back and forth on the topic of the value of the individual as opposed to what might benefit the collective. I haven't read enough Asimov to know whether this might be a recurring theme. It was written in 1954 when Ayn Rand was just becoming well known. Is the connection my imagination?---
It's fun to read some old SF. Here they are way in the future dinking around with book readers that make whirring sounds (like a MF reader), bragging about an index created especially for a list of books, a fancy slide rule to calculate problems, etc. Still, this is a nice mystery story with all sorts of typically fascinating Asimov speculations about the relationships between humans and robots and what it means to be different. Sometimes Asimov gets a little carried away with too much pontificating -- I should know since I'm a master pontificator myself -- such as when he rambles on to R. Daneel about the Sermon on the Mount and mercy and forgiveness. No subtlety whatsoever. It's a pretty good mystery, though.
Aside from Asimov's occasional preachiness, it's a good story.
