Then The Murders Began.......

[NanaPat]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... And then the murders began.

Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Note: this is the usual "first line" as quoted. In fact, he goes on and on and on with the most amazing run-on sentence I've ever seen. It has 14 full sentences (each with subject and verb) separated by commas. He could have at least used semicolons!

 

[TallyT]

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. And then the murders began.

Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

 

[elbkup]

At the moment we are born the Cavern Angel holds its finger to our mouths whispering “Hush! Don’t tell what you know!” which is why we have a cleft on our upper lip and remember nothing before but in the mid-twentieth century a smooth-lipped boy appeared in the World … and then the murders began..

(“Prince Ombra” Roderick MacLeish)

 

[moonkat]

A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State’s motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY. … and then the murders began...
(Brave New World)

 

[CellarDweller]

If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.....and then the murders began......

(Herzog)