I recall one mentioning that the people in it seemed very alive, not as if they'd been dead for many years. I think the general public has a right to information without having to wade through page after page of technical jargon. I think you can write intelligently and intelligibly at the same time. It was often hard NOT to be funny. Some theories about Beethoven are ludicrous.
Good lawyers do it all the time.
I became very cynical while writing this book. I've gotten to the point where I don't believe anything I read unless I check out the primary source material myself. But there was a secondary motive. This is an issue that, barring the discovery of some letter by Beethoven which actually gives her name, probably will never be settled conclusively. And I say that even in the face of some secret letters recently discovered.