There is, in each of this series, a deft treatment of the tension between the social constraints and the tacit acceptance of social / sexual behaviours of the era. Trumpington has flouted convention by dressing as a male and studying law but believes she must marry into her own class before she can have her heart’s desire. Clarady has a conventional appetite for every pretty girl but longs for the more complicated, unconventional and intellectual Lady Alice. Francis Bacon has a traditional view of social conventions and structures but is in same-sex relationship/s.
It is necessary, of course, to suspend disbelief as actual historical figures are woven in and out of the the fictional mystery.
I hope Audible produces all of Castle’s intriguing books.