The opening line of a book is extremely important, as it has to be intriguing and powerful enough to capture the reader's imagination. Then, the second line has to intensify the intrigue. Coming up with these lines can be pretty difficult, yet one writer came up with a second line that would almost always heighten the intrigue to its peak, and the Internet is going crazy.
"And then the murders began" - that's the clever line Marc Laidlaw came up with. Add it to almost any opening line and you've got yourself a hell of an intriguing book opening. Now people are tweeting famous first lines of books followed by Marc's second line, with the hashtag #LaidlawsRule. The results are absolutely hilarious! See for yourselves below, and feel free to add your own intriguing openings to the list.
(h/t)

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#461
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and then the murders began. (Not a book. Star Wars)
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#462
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
And then the murders began.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
And then the murders began.
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#463
I am an invisible man.And then the murders began.
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#464
The moment one learns English, complications set in. And then the murders began.(Chromos,Felipe Alfau)
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#465
Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression.And then the murders began. (Flann O'Brien, At Swim-Two-Birds )
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#466
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. And then the murders began. (Anna Karenina, Tolstoy)
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#467
MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow. And Then The Murders Began.
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
By Lucy Maud Montgomery
By Lucy Maud Montgomery
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#468
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times and then the murders began.
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#469
Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
and in my lady's chamber.
And then the murders began.....
Mother Goose
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
and in my lady's chamber.
And then the murders began.....
Mother Goose
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#470
A wealthy, widowed merchant lives in a mansion with his six children, three sons and three daughters. And then the murders began. (Beauty and the Beast {French: La Belle et la Bête})
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#471
"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. And then the murders began"
-The Giver by Lois Lowry.
-The Giver by Lois Lowry.
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#472
Howard Roark laughed and then the murders began. Ayn Rand The Fountainhead.
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#473
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.
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#474
"It was an overcast morning at the corral and the crows were out in full force, tussling at every fencepost lest they be denied a perch. And then the murders began."
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#475
Cautious investigators will hesitate to challenge the common belief that Robert Blake was killed by lightning, or by some profound nervous shock derived from an electrical discharge.
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#476
Howard Roark laughed. And then the murders began. (The Fountainhead; Ayn Rand)
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#477
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then the murders began.
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#478
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. And then the murders began.
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#479
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him "wild thing" And then the murders began.
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#480
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” ...and the the murders began. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
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