A PLAGUEOF ZOMBIES, by Diana Gabaldon

A wonderful read-it-in-one-evening novella starring Lord John Grey, who now stars from time to time (not often enough for me) in his own series rather than as a brilliant supporting character in the famed Outlander series.
Jamaica, then part of the British Empire, is a beauiful mountainous island blessed with beaches, harbors, rivers and waterfalls, and cursed with the vicious world of slavery. In Jamaica, it's  largely sugarcane plantations. As with most plantations anywhere in the slave-owning world, the enslaved outnumber the owners by a huge number. Revolt and rebellion simmer constantly, and the means employed to keep the slaves subdued are horrific.
Lord John is in Jamaica on the King's business but is at once drawn in to the sinister world of voodoo and zombies when the local Crown representative is murdered in a ghadtly scene. The author could've slid into zombieland, and does for a few moments, but the supremely practical Lord John at once begins to sort out the strands of at least two mysteries.
As always, the author is amusing, bloody-minded, and utterly merciless.
A wonderful read, perfect for a winter evening. It's a four.