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The investigator is Elijah "Lije" Baley, whose Spacer-assigned partner will be an android, R. Daneel Olivaw, a new type of robot externally indistinguishable from a human. The opposition between Lije's impulsiveness and unorthodox methods, and Daneel's pure logical thinking and adherence to the law and procedure, is a theme throughout much of the book. Another theme is the nature of the society of Earth's Cities and how stable it is in the long run.
 
''The Caves Of Steel'' was followed by two sequel novels, ''[[The Naked Sun (Literature)|The Naked Sun]]'' and ''[[The Robots of Dawn (Literature)|The Robots of Dawn]]'' (and a short story, "Mirror Image", set between the two). After the resolution of the first case, Baley's reputation leads to him traveling to the Spacers' homeworlds to work with Daneel in solving other murder cases with wider political implications.
 
The series reached a finale of sorts in ''[[Robots and Empire (Literature)|Robots and Empire]]'', set years after ''[[The Robots of Dawn (Literature)|The Robots of Dawn]]''; the story mainly served to merge Daneel's story into the [[Myth Arc]] of Asimov's "Galactic Empire" and ''[[Foundation]]'' stories.
 
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** Daneel was created to be an undercover observer of Earth society to discover the problems in the plan before Sarton's murder. {{spoiler|Repurposing Daneel as a detective was primarily an excuse for him to fulfill his original mission.}}
* [[Big Applesauce]]
* [[Born in Thethe Wrong Century]]: There are plenty of "medievalists" in the future who long for better days of the Medieval Era, which by this time refers to the Late Twentieth/Early Twenty-First centuries. Most of the people of Earth are medievalists in one fashion or another, usually manifesting itself in some minor personal foible. Elijah himself likes to read a lot about the old days, and Enderby, Lije's boss, uses such bizarrely anachronistic things as windows and eyeglasses.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: At the very beginning of the book, Lije notices that {{spoiler|Enderby is wearing new glasses, as he broke his old pair}}. At the end of the novel, this seemingly random bit of information ends up becoming the piece that puts the whole case together for Lije.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: {{spoiler|R. Sammy}}.
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And she kept Lije Baley from sinking down }}
* [[Mega City]]: Where the population of Earth lives. On average, 11.2 million in each city. The government's of three large cities (New York, Philadelphia and Washington) are considering merging into one single ''Mega'' Mega City, but the logistics of maintaining and governing such a large conglomerate have so far prevented any action on the plan.
* [[Murder Byby Mistake]]: {{spoiler|Dr. Sarton was killed by a shot intended for R. Daneel (who was built to resembled his creator).}}
* [[Never Accepted in His Hometown]]: The Robots were created, developed and mass produced right on Earth almost three thousand years before the beginning of the novel, and were integral in the technological revolution that lead to space-travel, food for the whole planet and world peace, but they were never accepted into Earth society and were completely banned from the planet soon after their creation. It is only through the direct intervention of the Spacers, who have completely integrated robots into their way of life, that they are even beginning to merge with the Earthlings.
* [[Not Withwith the Safety On, You Won't]]: Elijah is understandably disturbed when the ostensibly [[Three Laws Compliant]] Daneel resolves the potential riot at the shoe store by threatening to use a lethal weapon. Daneel explains to his partner that the weapon was not loaded, and that even if it had been loaded, the futuristic equivalent of the firing pin was missing; after all, if it had been otherwise, it would have been possible for him to ''accidentally'' injure a human being, something Daneel finds unthinkable.
* [[Only Electric Sheep Are Cheap]]: Natural (non-processed) food is a luxury good.
* [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions]]: The Spacers have abandoned religion long ago.
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* [[Uncanny Valley]]: In-universe, one of the reasons why robots - at least the current generation - are so unpopular on Earth; they are clunky mechanical units with disturbing facsimiles of permanently-smiling human faces on their "heads." Daneel is an attempt by his creator to avert this.
* [[Wandering Jew]]: The legend of the Wandering Londoner appears to be the equivalent for Baley.
* [[We Will Have Perfect Health in Thethe Future]]: Most notable in the friction between Spacers and Earthmen. Earthers have lifespans comparable to 20th century Americans, while the eugenically-perfected Spacers tend not to experience "middle age" until turning 250 or so. They enforce this with careful control the microbes introduced to their worlds from Earthers, and look down on the filthy, disgusting, shortlived Earthmen. The Spacers' weakened immune systems mean that when an Earthman visits, the visitor has to be thoroughly sterilized and most of the Spacers wear gloves and nose-plugs and keep their distance.
* [[We Will Use Manual Labor in Thethe Future]]: A major source of contention between Earthlings and the Spacers is the refusal of Earth to ''stop'' using manual labor. Robots could do all the work better, faster and safer for only a fraction of the cost, and are one of the key reasons for the utopian societies of the Spacers, but their introduction to Earth society is being resisted (Sometimes violently) because they will displace so much of the human workforce.
* [[When the Clock Strikes Twelve]]: Near the end of the book, {{spoiler|Daneel notifies Lije that, since he's gathered the information Fastolfe wanted about Earther society, the investigation is being ended that day. Desperately worried about the consequences failure would have for his career, and with a brand-new [[Eureka Moment]] running through his mind, Baley manages to persuade his robot partner that they're still on the case until the day ends at midnight. Sure enough, they manage to extract a confession from the murderer right at the stroke of 12.}}
 
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