The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy is a collection of historical mystery fantasy short stories by Avram Davidson featuring his scholarly detective character Doctor Eszterhazy and set in an imaginary European country. It was first published in paperback by Warner Books in December 1975.[1] Its contents were later incorporated into the more comprehensive collection The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy (1991), which included five additional Eszterhazy stories written later but set earlier.[2]
Summary
The book collects eight novelettes and short stories by the author, some originally published in various speculative fiction magazines and others original to the collection, in addition to three maps by John E. Westfall illustrating the fictitious setting of Bella, capital of the equally fictitious empire of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, the empire itself, and its supposed position in the Balkans on the map of late 19th century Europe. The maps show the country as neighboring such other fictional states as Ruritania and Graustark, and, in an apparent error, place the Pannonia division at the opposite end of the empire from the historical Pannonia.
Reception
The collection was reviewed by Frederick Patten in Delap's F & SF Review, March 1976, John Boardman in Amra v. 2, no. 65, April 1976, Barry N. Malzberg in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1976, and Steve Fahnestalk in New Venture #4, Summer 1976.[1]
Awards
The collection won the 1976 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection.
"Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman" was nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and placed tenth in the 1976 Locus Poll Award for Best Novelette.
