"... And then the murders began."

[dmeck7755]

The naming of cats is a difficult matter, and then the murders began

(Old Possum's book of Practical Cats. -- TS Elliot)
----
A man with binocluors. That is how it began: with a man standing by the side of the road, on a crest overlooking a small Arizona town. on a winter night.

(The Andromeda Strain -- Michael Crichton)

[midwestmutt]

I, Tiberius Claudius Nero Drusus Germanicus this-that-and-the-other(for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as "Claudius the Idiot," or "that Claudius", or "Claudius the Stammerer", or "Clau-Clau-Claudius", or at best as "Poor Uncle Claudius", am now about to write this strange history of my life...and then the murders began.--I Claudius by Robert Graves

[Yastreb]

About 800,000 years ago, the first human ancestors reached the British Isles from continental Europe. And then the murders began.
History of England and Ireland: the Definitive Visual Guide

Too angry to wait for the creaky elevator, I went clattering down the dusty stairs, so fast that I outpaced Dave. And then the murders began.
Michael Scott Rohan, The Gates of Noon

[Róisín]

Now that is an interesting author. Apart from the quality of his writing, which is good, some of his own family history is interesting. It includes Michael Scot (yes, the our-world mage) and Walter Scott the novelist.

[LooNEY_DAC]

Marley was dead, to begin with. And then the murders began.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

...Well, SOMEBODY had to do it.

[Yastreb]

The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking from Bramblehurst railway station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand. And then the murders began.
H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. And then the murders began.
H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

[thegreyarea]

In the nighttime heart of Beirut, in one of a row of general-address transfer booths, Louis Wu flicked into reality. And then the murders began.

Larry Niven, Ringworld

[thegreyarea]

This is the bright candlelit room where the life-timers are stored – shelf upon shelf of them, squat hourglasses, one for every living person, pouring their fine sand from the future into the
past. And then the murders began.

Terry Pratchett, Mort

(It could be argued if Death work counts as murders...)

[Yastreb]

On April Fool's Day 1983 the distinguished British historian Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, First Baron Dacre of Glanton, was telephoned at his country home in Scotland by the Assistant Editor of The Times, Mr Colin Webb. And then the murders began.
Robert Harris, Selling Hitler

It was a warm spring night when a fist knocked at the door so hard that the hinges bent. And then the murders began.
Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

[midwestmutt]

They didn't say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back. And then the murders began. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot.

[thegreyarea]

Ensign Andrew Dahl looked out the window of Earth Dock, the Universal Union’s space station above the planet Earth, and gazed at his next ship. And then the murders began.

John Scalzi, Redshirts

(haven't read that one yet, but considering the well known fate of those that have the dubious luck of wearing a red starfleet uniform...)

[Yastreb]

"You have a visitor, Lieutenant Vorkosigan." A little glassy panic twitched in the normally matter-of-fact corpsman's face. And then the murders began.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Borders of Infinity

The moon was full; everywhere its pleasant, watery haze spread over the peaceful English countryside, rendering it colourless. And then the murders began.
Guy Gibson, Enemy Coast Ahead

[thegreyarea]

When I first began research on this book, little did I know that I would soon be led astray by Portugal’s age-old history full of details, anecdotes and tales. And then the murders began.

Volker Poelzl, CultureShock! Portugal - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

(what an exciting voyage that must have been!   )

(but the fact that he wrote the book after that would make me think the "Survival Guide" part is legit   )

[Yastreb]

In late December 2000, less than a month before his inauguration, President-elect George W. Bush was still debating who should be his secretary of defence. And then the murders began.
Bob Woodward, State of Denial

It was the Joy of the Sunset that brought us to speech. And then the murders began.
William Hope Hodgson, The Night Land

[dmeck7755]

It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future, and then the murders started

(The Shadow of the Torturer--Gene Wolfe)