In the novel A Caribbean Mystery, Mr Rafiel is a very rich man. He met Jane Marple, while being on holiday in the Caribbean.
In a later novel Nemesis, Rafiel is mentioned a second time. Here he is dead but a letter to be sent to Miss Marple, asking her to help solve an injustice. His first name "Jason" is mentioned in this second book but not in the first. In the letter to Miss Marple, he signs himself as "J. B. Rafiel".
Mr Rafiel's wife died quite soon after they were married. He has a son called Michael and two daughters, one who died young and one who married and moved to America. According to Esther Anderson, Mr Rafiel never spoke about his son, and Esther gathered that there had been some trouble or scandal.
According to Esther, Mr Rafiel was a man who never said much about his personal feelings or his own life, and was always focused on business, and so she did not know whether he was upset about his son or not. She said that he was a man who would always decide to cut his losses, so if a son turned out to be unsatisfactory, he would perhaps send him money for support, but otherwise never think of him again.
Mr Rafiel had arranged for Mr Broadribb, his solicitor, to contact Miss Marple after his death. Mr Broadribb was to inform her that Mr Rafiel had left her a legacy of twenty thousand pounds, to become hers absolutely, if she was successful in investigating a certain crime. Mr Rafiel also arranged for her to go on the Famous Houses and Gardens tour, and had paid all the expenses.
Shortly before he died, Mr Rafiel wrote to Lavinia Glynne and her sisters, saying that a friend of his would be on the Famous Houses and Gardens tour, and might like to stay with them for a few nights, as that part of the tour was rather strenous. Mr Rafiel was an old friend of Mrs Glynne and her sisters.
Portrayals
In the 1983 Warner Bros adaptation, Mr Rafiel is portrayed by Barnard Hughes.
In the BBC 1989 adaptation, Mr Rafiel is given the first name "Jason" as in the novel Nemesis. Here he is portrayed by Donald Pleasance.
In the 2013 ITV adaptation, Mr Rafiel is portrayed by Anthony Sher. In this adaptation, he is a rich business man who deals with chemicals and fertilizers. He is less cranky than in other adaptations. He is impressed by Miss Marple's sharp observations and partners up with Miss Marple shortly after the death of Major Palgrave to prevent further killings. He goes with Miss Marple to see Inspector Daventry to persuade him to exhume the Major for example. Upset by the inspector's lack of interest, he tells Miss Marple that they would get to the bottom of the case themselves. In this adaptation he unwittingly contributes two motives for Tim Kendal to want to kill his wife. In the first place, he had secretly willed some money to Esther Walters--something which the snooping Jackson had discovered and had told Tim. Secondly, Rafiel had been trying to buy over the Golden Palms hotel because the land contained valuable guano deposits. Tim welcomed the opportunity but knew that Molly would never sell for sentimental reasons--the hotel had belonged to her parents.