The protagonist of The Robots of Dawn and the preceding novels (The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun, incidents from which are referred throughout the novel), Baley is a 45-year-old, grade C-7 City homicide detective whose earlier exploits solving a murder on the planet Solaris have won him fame throughout the universe, thanks to a hyperwave dramatization. He hates the notoriety and false images that the drama instills in people. When excited or under great stress, Baley exclaims, "Jehoshaphat!"—so often that Gladia Delmarre/Solaria, upon seeing him again, declares that she is sure it will be his first word.