"... And then the murders began."

[Yastreb]

It was one of those days when it seemed to James Bond that all life, as someone put it, was nothing but a heap of six to one against. And then the murders began.
Ian Fleming, Thunderball

It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end. And then the murders began.
Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The geisha called 'Trembling Leaf', on her knees beside James Bond, leaned forward from the waist and kissed him chastely on the right cheek. And then the murders began.
Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice

[Yastreb]

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
And then the murders began.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Charge Of The Light Brigade

When he found her in the snowbank, he was sure she must be dead. And then the murders began.
Alice Borchardt, The Wolf King

[Yastreb]

It was not yet raining, but the leaden skies would open before long. And then the murders began.
Robert Ludlum, The Bancroft Strategy

Rayner and the child came up on the fore well-deck just after seven. And then the murders began.
Gwyn Griffin, An Operational Necessity

[thegreyarea]

The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills. And then the murders began.

Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

It was midnight in Ankh-Morpork's Royal Art Museum.

It occurred to new employee Rudolph Scattering about once every minute that on the
whole it might have been a good idea to tell the Curator about his nyctophobia, his fear
of strange noises and, he now knew, his fear of absolutely every thing he could see (and,
come to that, not see), hear, smell and feel crawling up his back during the endless hours
on guard during the night. It was no use telling himself that everything in here was dead.
That didn't help at all. It meant that he stood out.

And then he heard the sob the murders began.

Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett

Spoiler: show

Actually "And then he heard the sob." is the next sentence in the book

[midwestmutt]

The king died shortly before dawn. Then the murders began.--Simon Scarrow-The Emperor Must Die.-Book 20 of The Eagles of the Empire series.

[Yastreb]

Somebody asked for the cigars. We had talked long, and the conversation was beginning to languish; the tobacco smoke had got into the heavy curtains, the wine had got into those brains which were liable to become heavy, and it was already perfectly evident that, unless somebody did something to rouse our oppressed spirits, the meeting would soon come to its natural conclusion, and we, the guests, would speedily go home to bed, and most certainly to sleep. And then the murders began.
F. Marion Crawford, The Upper Berth

He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees. The mountainside sloped gently where he lay; but below it was steep and he could see the dark of the oiled road winding through the pass. There was a stream alongside the road and far down the pass he saw a mill beside the stream and the falling water of the dam, white in the summer sunlight. And then the murders began.
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls

[thegreyarea]

It was a large room, a room in a palace grown to be a prison in all but name. A bright fire crackled on the hearth at one end, the firelight danced on the walls, the dusk drew on, and a girl looked out of the window at the whirling snowflakes. And then the murders began.

CHANTEMERLE: A ROMANCE OF THE VENDEAN WAR, D. K. Broster AND G. W. Taylor

"'Ho, ho, vacation days are here,
We welcome them with right good cheer;
In wisdom's halls we love to be,
But yet 'tis pleasant to be free,'"

warbled Tabitha Catt, pausing on the doorstep of her little desert home as she vigorously shook a dingy dusting cloth, and hungrily sniffed the fresh, sweet morning air, for, although the first week of June was already gone, the fierce heat of the summer had not yet descended upon Silver Bow, nestling in its cup-like hollow among the Nevada mountains.
And then the murders began.

TABITHA'S VACATION, Ruth Alberta Brown

Note: I don't know about you, dear friends, but in both cases above I see the addition of "And then the murders began" as something that makes those books* look much more compelling

* both, Chantemerle and Tabitha's Vacation, are available at Project Gutenberg, BTW

[Yastreb]

I left Athens at mid-day in the Automatrice, a reasonably fast Diesel train which for four hours trundled beside the sun-glittering Gulf of Salamis, through pale green valleys hemmed in by low treeless hills of grey limestone, past dust-grey villages sent among the dark, spear-like cypresses.  And then the murders began.
Leonard Cottrell, The Bull of Minos

Corporal Binns, lying on his stomach in a shallow of the ground, counted the dive-bombers as they came across the skyline. And then the murders began.
Elleston Trevor, The Big Pick-Up

[midwestmutt]

Rome, 25 August AD 89 , eight days before the kalends of September. Everyone knew a dead barmaid was buried in the courtyard.-Lindsey Davis-The graveyard of the Hesperides, a Flavia Albia novel.

[Yastreb]

On the nights that the wolf does appear, he always waits for dark. And then the murders begin.
Fran Bryson, In Brazil

It was ten past three in the morning, and Kevin Lewis looked like he was about to pass out. And then the murders began.
Ben Mezrich, Bringing Down The House

[thegreyarea]

There must be a better way, Jason Bradley kept telling himself, of celebrating one's twenty-first bithday than attending a mass funeral; but at least he had no emotional involvment. And then the murders began.

Arthur C Clarke, The Ghost From The Grand Banks

(One of the least known works from Clarke. As usual lots of fascinating ideas but IMHO would benefit from more character development and/or murders...)


Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his. And then the murders began.

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

(BTW a great book, though somehow adding a few murders would undoubtedly make it even more interesting...)

[Yastreb]

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
And then the murders began
Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound Of Silence

I went to a garden party
To reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories
Play our songs again
When I got to the garden party
They all knew my name
No one recognized me
I didn't look the same
And then the murders began
Ricky Nelson, Garden Party

[Yastreb]

The blow was such a stunner that it was thirteen years before I could get back on my feet again. And then the murders began.
Henri Charriere, Papillon

Osbert fitzRalph held the manor of Bodeham from the Count of Eu. But in the winter of 1095 the Count was in the King's prison, awaiting sentence for his unsuccessful rebellion that summer. And then the murders began.
Alfred Duggan, Knight With Armour

[thegreyarea]

"The ride's a little bumpy on the famous Road of Skulls...
"My God, what's happening!" Sammil Mc9 cried, waking up.
The cart he and his companion had hitched a ride on was shaking violently. And then the murders began"

Iain M. Banks, Road of Skulls

(this is part of a collection of shorts called "The State of The Art". Expect more...   )

[dmeck7755]

The children were playing as Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do.  And then the murders began.

(Hugh Howey--Wool)

Spoiler: show

This is part of a trilogy called Silo.  I thought of it because apple is making a series out of it...