And then the murders began.

[barbara2]

Last week, a fiction writer named Marc Laidlaw started an internet game by tweeting that “The first line of almost any story can be improved by making sure the second line is ‘And then the murders began.” And the notion is taking hold, but not, as far as I can see, on Librivox. Here's my shot at improving a few famous opening sentences.

He uncovered the fragrant eggs and I pronged a moody forkful. And then the murders began.

For a long time I used to go to bed early. And then the murders began.

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. And then the murders began.

Any more?

Barbara

[aradlaw]

Mmm, I don't know about that... but here's a few -

The frowsy chambermaid of the "Red Lion" had just finished washing the front door steps. And then the murders began.

Next morning, being Friday the third day of August, in the year 1492, Columbus set sail, a little before sunrise, in presence of a vast crowd of spectators, who sent up their supplications to Heaven for the prosperous issue of the voyage, which they wished rather than expected. And then the murders began.

CLAUDE was passing in front of the Hotel de Ville, and the clock was striking two o’clock in the morning when the storm burst forth. And then the murders began.

[StarFire]

from her majesty's wizard the first book i grabbed;
matthew mantrell leaned forward across the little table in the campus coffee shop and rapped the sheet of rune-covered parchment before him. and then the murders began.

from Forest Born By Shannon Hale;
Ma had six sons. and then the murders began.

from the emigrants' guide to Oregon and California.
the author long having had an anxious desire to visit those wild regions upon the great Pacific, which had now become the topic of conversation in every circle, and in reference to which, speculations both rational and irrational were everywhere in vogue, now determines to accomplish his desired object: for which purpose he repaired to Independence, Mo., which place was the known rendezvous of the Santa Fe traders, and the trappers of the Rocky mountains. And then the murders began.

[Darvinia]

This thread made me go and take a look at the first line of the novel I'm currently reading. It didn't work as the murders have already begun in the first line!

The bodies were discovered at eight forty-five on the morning of Wednesday 18 September by Miss Emily Wharton, a sixty-five-year-old spinster of the parish of St. Matthew’s in Paddington, London, and Darren Wilkes, aged ten, of no particular parish as far as he knew or cared. And then the murders began.

[DACSoft]

And from the two solos I have in progress:

"Joe Matson, I can't understand why you don't fairly jump at the chance!"
And then the murders began.

"Battalion, right forward, fours right, march!"
And then the murders began.

[annise]

Sadly true
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And then the murders began.

Anne

[kukailimoku]

C'mon people...you HAVE to go old school here.

It was a dark and stormy night. And then the murders began.

[Roger]

I like the "dark and stormy night" one. How many books really begin with that line, anyway?
I'm aware of only one that begins thusly:

Call me Ishmael. And then the murders began.

[kukailimoku]

A couple I had to look up but I knew might have some legs...

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. And then the murders began. - 1984
It was love at first sight. And then the murders began. Catch 22
Elmer Gantry was drunk. And then the murders began.

And the one I KNEW would be good...

When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton. And then the murders began.

[VfkaBT]

LONDON --
(AP) A 2-year-old boy in England wasn't very impressed with a chance to meet Queen Elizabeth and showed it by throwing a tantrum in front of her majesty. And then the murders began.

[kukailimoku]

Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. And then the murders began.
- Animal Farm

[kukailimoku]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. And then the murders began.

- Tale of Two Cities

[kukailimoku]

"James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death. And then the murders began."

- Goldfinger

[realisticspeakers]

the sun did not shine.
it was too wet to play.
so we sat in the house
all that cold, cold, wet day.
and then the murders began.

[annise]

The Mole had been working very hard all morning spring cleaning his little home. And then the murders began .....

Wind in the Willows

Anne