Raymond West

Raymond West is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Jane Marple. He is a well known author and Marple's nephew. He is not interested in Marple's cases. But in some novels (like A Caribbean Mystery and At Bertram's Hotel) he supports Marple financially. His wife Joan (née Lemprière), an artist, is also sympathetic to Marple.

In The Thirteen Problems, his future wife's name was given as Joyce, not Joan. Raymond's mother was one of three girls, with Marple being the eldest and his mother having another sister. This other sister had a daughter, Raymond's cousin Mabel Denman, who was accused of murdering her husband, Geoffrey (The Thirteen Problems).

Raymond and Joan had two sons, one of whom is named David and works in British Railways. David was able to help his great-aunt solve a mystery regarding a missing corpse by giving her information about trains that might have passed the 4:50 from Paddington (4.50 from Paddington). His other son, Lionel, is a keen stamp collector and has shown Miss Marple every single one, and told her about the rare 1855 Blue Stamp, which helps her solve a case regarding a lost inheritance (Strange Jest).

In the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, Raymond is mentioned, as he engages Miss Knight to stay with Miss Marple, after an attack of bronchitis left her very weak, and Dr Haydock said that she must not go on sleeping alone in the house, with only someone coming in daily. Miss Marple also mentions that when staying with Raymond, she noticed that some of his guests seemed to arrive with quite a quantity of little bottles of pills and tablets, which they take with their food and drink. This gives her the idea that someone might add something to a drink quite openly, without anyone thinking twice about it.

Stories featuring Raymond West

 * The Thirteen Problems (short story collection)
 * The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
 * At Bertram's Hotel
 * Sleeping Murder
 * Greenshaw's Folly (1957)

Portrayals

 * David McAlister in Miss Marple, episode Sleeping Murder (1987).
 * Trevor Bowen in Miss Marple, episode A Caribbean Mystery (1989) The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992).
 * Richard E. Grant in Agatha Christie's Marple, episode Nemesis (2009).
 * Raymond Coulthard in the BBC Radio adaptation The Case of the Perfect Maid.
 * Iwan Thomas in the BBC radio adaptation A Caribbean Mystery.