Obsidian Secrets - Steam Age Quest, #1

The year is 1865. The place: Munich, capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria under castle loving King Ludwig II. A magical manuscript has been stolen. Assisted by two young Bavarian officers and a wizard-scientist, British officer and secret agent Delacroix is sent to find it and return it to England. However, the promise of destructive power contained in the manuscript draws murderous creatures who plan to use the artefact to change reality into a gory vision defined according to their most heinous fantasies.
Miss Corrisande Jarrencourt, a young English lady with an unspeakable secret, has come to Munich to find a rich husband. Caught in the cross current of disasters, she has no choice but to face the worst dangers while being courted by members of the team, coveted by monsters from the abyss of madness, and hunted by a secret cultist order that has its original foundations in the Inquisition. Her survival is at stake.
But then, so is that of the entire world. The book got awarded the "Deutscher Phantastik Preis" (German Fantasy and SF Award) in 2009 when it was published in German. Book 3 "Beyond the Merry-go-round" of the same series made it to the final shortlist of three for the same award. Book 4 "Wings of Stone" was awarded the SERAPH, the speculative fiction award given out by the Phantastische Akademie at Leipzig Book Fair.