Major Cowan

In the novel Evil Under the Sun, Major Cowan was a guest at the Jolly Roger Hotel, with his wife and children. The family lives at Rydal's Mount, Leatherhead. After the murder of Arlena Marshall, the police eliminated him and his family as plausible suspects early on. They are regulars at the hotel every summer and on the day itself they had gone off on an all-day sailing excursion.