Should Writing Enlighten or confuse?

As a reader of many books and the writer of a few I have a complaint to make. In my understanding writers should write to enlighten and/or entertain. Admittedly, some subjects are complicated and require intense concentration to master. But even in technical writing, the goal must be to enlighten not obscure. Good writing should increase our understanding of a concept or a place or at least transport us to a place of pleasure and delight.

Take fiction, for example. In my view, using a multiplicity of obscure place names and diverse characters tends to clog up a good story. The aim should be to waft the reader along on the wings of prose in such a way that one is transported beyond oneself without continually being jerked out of the story by mystifying words. Slogging through a puzzling array of characters, acronyms, and unknown places tends to dissipate reading enjoyment. It can also limit the educational value of a work.

Let me illustrate my meaning from what is declared on the dust jacket to be, The Number One Bestseller. Not a but the.

Ian Rankin's Complaints tells the story of a police department called Complaints, where cops investigate other cops. Malcolm Fox, the main character, has a frail father and a sister in a compulsive relationship. While investigating a popular cop, his life spirals out of control. Then his sister’s abusive live-in is killed and a wealthy, but down-on-his-luck developer disappears in what seems to be a suicide. Are the two events connected?

It is hinted that the cop he is investigating has bought pictures from an internet porn ring out of Australia. Soon Fox doesn't know who to trust and he quickly becomes the target of an internal investigation. He is sent home to cool his heels.

The plot is intricate and the main characters well drawn, but why does Rankin include so many Scottish expressions, names of departments, and local place names that only a native of Edinburgh would understand? In my opinion—and it is only an opinion—this tendency made the book tedious to follow and dissipated much of the entertainment value to be found in a good mystery. True, after reading it I have a rather vague idea of the organization of the Scottish police and the city of Edinburgh. But then again, the plot still seems fuzzy to me.

Am I the only one who has problems with gratuitous acronyms, a multiplicity of exotic place names, and a multitude of characters?