Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

A brilliant scientist and possible sociopath sells his soul to learn the secrets of necromancy, only to find out that not having a soul is quite inconvenient - his necromancy never quite works right without having one. So he gets himself into another wager with the Devil, this time to collect one hundred souls in exchange for his, using the diabolical means of...a carnival. Johannes is not especially charming, nor is he good at having fun, so he enlists his brother Horst, a vampire, and an army of the dead to help him out. Then, after that book is over, he ends up having to solve a murder on board an aeroship (while on the run from the secret police of a dictatorship), with only one frenemy by his side. So basically: awesome.