An instance of the fingerpost

Set during the Restoration, like Andrew Taylor's Marwood and Lovett series, which I enjoyed, and in Oxford, which I know, I still struggled to get into it at first. There are many references to real historical characters, but the Unreliable narrator technique made it hard like or identify with the main characters. It did come together in an interesting way at the end, and had broadened my knowledge of the period some of the notable people who appear in itl