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All finished apart from the location. Some dodgy clues in my opinion, but generally very good and fair. I don't quite get why two character names appear to be missing and two more are included though. I'm sure the location will spring to mind once I've had some fresh air.

The location is the obvious one.

The extra letters are a real help.

Indeed it is obvious, but I do know a lot of states now!!!

Hi DJA, there is implied good news (you must surely have used TCD at least once for this puzzle) : that your back has recovered.

I know nothing at all of the theme, though thanks to the internet I'm learning. The extra letters make 2 words (7,5) which don't really give me any clue as to what to do next. The 2 words might refer to anywhere between Maine and Florida, or just about anywhere in Asia.

Working through the 12 names from jumbles, I've found 11 of them in a list of characters of a work by the unclued name. But no John (from 12A).

As to the location, would I be right in thinking that it must be somewhere along a line which used to have the scheduled service ?

Meursault - try thinking not of geography but of synonyms for the two words separately - you'll kick yourself when the penny drops!

And John is a colonel

Arbuthnot ? I didn't see any first name for him in my searches, assumed that his parents were a tad formal with him...

Thanks S_Pugh.

I found this very easy. I don't know the theme in detail but once I'd filled the top half and a bit of the bottom the theme jumped out, enabling to fill all the circled cells and the unclued. The remainder of the bottom half took me 15 minutes.

I thought the clues were good; some were excellent. There are a few I haven't fully parsed, so perhaps they include the dodgy ones referred to by Gitto. Otherwise I haven't found any.

Thanks Meursault the back is a lot better.

You’re correct the person to replace with a location is in the usual place.

The other part of it, the (7,5), is telling me what I already knew. I wouldn't have been able to confirm the names of characters to a book I've never read if I didn't already know the title...so I'm still at a loss of what needs to be replaced by what.