Opening Lines...Plus

by Patricia Bradley

I love opening lines. And about a year ago, fiction writer Marc Laidlaw posted a tweet about opening lines that went viral: “The first line of almost any story,” he tweeted, “can be improved by making sure the second line is, ‘And then the murders began.’”

People tweeted their favorite opening line followed by And then the murders began.

I didn’t read about his tweet until recently, and then I went crazy with the concept. Here are a few of mine:

One of my favorites is from Nancy Mehl's latest, Blind Betrayal: As Martin Avery waited to be murdered, he was surprised to find that more than anything else, he felt offended. And then the murders began.

How about: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then the murders began.

And from Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. It was raining in Richmond on Friday, June 6. And then the murders began.

Or from George Orwell, 1984: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. And then the murders began.

And from my own Justice Betrayed which will be released June 5: Shirley traced her finger over her mother’s image in the photo, then shoved the picture into the backpack with her other possessions. And then the murders began.

Okay, now it's your turn. Tell me what your favorite first line is and then add And the murders began.

HOT NEW INSPIRATIONAL SUSPENSE

Today Suspense Sisters features one of our own, Nancy Mehl, our fearless leader. (www.nancymehl.com) Nancy has just released Book 3 in the Defenders of Justice series, Blind Betrayal, from Bethany House Publishers. 

Here's a bit about the story: Deputy U.S. Marshal Casey Sloane has worked at the St. Louis Marshals office for two years and is given a routine assignment to help transport a reporter to D.C. to testify before a grand jury. Valerie, the reporter, was writing a story about an up-and-coming environmentalist who suddenly disappeared and, she later discovered, whose backers purportedly have ties to a terrorist. 

When the seemingly ordinary assignment takes a shocking turn, Casey is forced to put aside her own feelings about the unexpected reappearance of a man from her past as she and two other marshals take Valerie on the run. And as it becomes dangerously clear Valerie's testimony has even bigger implications than they knew, they'll do whatever it takes to make out alive.