The great and the small
The secretary of state Percy Brandston, a rather unpleasant politician (aren’t they all?) is found dead of tiny bite marks. Archie, an unemployed chef, is trying to improve life for the residents in his tower block and befriends some gnomes in the garden. Percy Brandston’s family have gone for a holiday in New Zeeland without him, this was before he was murdered. The gnomes send Archie and fellow resident Anne-Marie to try and stop Percy’s murder (this was obviously before it happened as well) at the hands of a rogue clan of gnomes that were hacked off which him. The police are flummoxed and Archie and Anne-Marie fall in love and get married. It is not a bad book but I found it a bit disjointed and it took ages to get going. There is also some very silly gnome lore, such as gnomes living for five thousand years and mating with trees and hatching their offspring under their hats.
A trick of the light
In the second of the trilogy Archie and Anne Marie decide to move as the estate on which they live is rapidly going downhill, plus there is not really room for the gnomes. The Gardner of the dead Percy Brandon brokers a sort of peace between the Yew band of gnomes (the one that had killed the politician) and his (Percy’s) wife Lady Brandston. hatches a plan to move Archie, Anne Marie and their flat full of gnomes to her uncle’s estate. Her uncle, Lord Archibald, had gnomes on his land that he did not know about and they were in poor shape because of poachers but once Archie realises whats going on and Archie and Anne Marie move in to help this gets sorted out. Norman blackthorn (one of the gnomes) who is ‘pregnant’ finds that he is able to teleport (another daft piece of gnome lore). This ability is passed on to his son Bron when he is born. Gnomes from elsewhere seem to be acquiring this ability as well. Norman meets a nixie (a water spirit) in the moat. He and one of his Brothers Nick speak to the nixie to learn more about ‘flitting’ and Nick acquires the ability as well. A Syrian gnome, called Luqman teleport in needing help. Norman and Nick teleport to Syria to help the gnomes there move house. They are attacked by rats and Nick is killed. Nick had some sort of agreement with the nixie so a party is held in the nixie’s honour to extricate the gnomes from nick’s agreement as well as to learn more about ‘flitting’. At this party Mother Nature herself (usually referred to as ‘The Great Mother’) turns up (as does the dead Nick) after which time it starts to rain quite heavily. There are suggestions that we are in for a flood of biblical proportions and talk of an arc being built
The Time of Rains.
It seems to have been raining a bit more than usual but the promised flood never appeared. Archie gets a bee in his bonnet about fracking and goes to the house of lords to make a statement, not realising that he no longer has that right. At the house of lords a reporter sees him being denied access and interviews him, making the story look like he is a mad old fool, out of touch with reality. Because the press is hounding him Monty goes to live with Marjory (his niece, the ex wife of Percy Brandston). Anne Marie is diagnosed with a nasty form of cancer, after saying goodby to the gnomes she walks away with The Great Mother. Archie is turned into a gnome by Cernunnos (the horned god and consort to the great mother) which was a bit of a crappy thing to do because now he will have to wait for centuries before he is with Anne Marie again. He finds a clearing in the woods and goes into it to be with her (dies). Norman Blackthorn has a son called Bron and is made chief of all the gnomes and goes to live in Europe.
There are some other gnome books by the same author. Flittermouse: The Travels of Bron Blackthorn and