Guess the opening lines...

Cold comfort farm! Love Flora x

On an autumn afternoon of 1919 a hatless man with a slight limp might have been observed ascending the gentle, broad acclivity of [giveaway placename] which lead from King's Cross Road up to [another] in the great metropolitan industrial district of Clerkenwell.

I haven't read the whole book but I do recognise the opening - Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett.

Murder must advertise

Both correct: quartet comes from Latin, tetralogy from Greek.

We stand, the three of us, me, Sylvie and Rube, pressed up against the saloon door, brown ales clutched in our hands.

and what about:

On an autumn afternoon of 1919 a hatless man with a slight limp might have been observed ascending the gentle, broad acclivity of [giveaway placename] which lead from King's Cross Road up to [another] in the great metropolitan industrial district of Clerkenwell.

I think the first is a Dick Francis, but I can’t recall which

Yes, it's Odds Against, the first Sid Halley book.

Too late as people have beaten me to it but I recognised The Tiger In the Smoke and Miss Pym Disposes. Between Peter Wimsey, Campion, Roderick Alleyn and Alan Grant, Campion was always my favourite. I love Margery Allingham's writing; she's just so observant and measured. I read and reread her books all through my teens and twenties. Really enjoy Josephine Tey too especially Brat Farrar and The Franchise Affair.

I think the first is a Dick Francis, but I can’t recall which

It is The Woman in White. I thought that would be the more difficult one!

The first one is a very well known author. Will give it a bit of time to see if anyone else gets it.

I think that second one is The Woman in White. I feel I should know the first one, but I don't.

I was never particularly keen on my job before the day I got shot and nearly lost it, along with my life. But the .38 slug of lead which made a pepper-shaker out of my intestines left me with fire in my belly in more ways than one. Otherwise I should never have met Zanna Martin, and would still be held fast in the spider-threads of departed joys, of no use to anyone, least of all myself.

@@@@@@@@

This is the story of what a Woman’s patience can endure, and what a Man’s resolution can achieve.

If the machinery of the Law could be depended on to fathom every case of suspicion, and to conduct every process of inquiry, with moderate assistance only from the lubricating influences of oil of gold, the events which fill these pages might have claimed their share of the public attention in a Court of Justice.

Swallows and Amazons

I googled this and discovered there's a whole genre subset called cosy fantasy. I must give it a go.

Legends and Lattes ;)

"The first thing I noticed was the clarity of the air, and then the sharp green colour of the land. There was no softness anywhere. The distant hills did not blend into the sky but stood out like rocks, so close that I could almost touch them, their proximity giving me that shock of surprise and wonder which a child feels looking for the first time through a telescope. Nearer to me, too, each object had the same hard quality, the very grass turning to single blades, springing from a younger, harsher soil than the soil I knew."

Or tetralogy, I think

@FruAashild yes! Well spotted.

Brideshead Revisited. I was just looking at this a few days ago when thinking about this thread.

Quartet?

When I reached ‘C’ Company lines, which were at the top of the hill, I paused and looked back at the camp, just coming into full view below me through the grey mist of early morning. We were leaving that day. When we marched in, three months before, the place was under snow; now the first leaves of spring were unfolding. I had reflected then that, whatever scenes of desolation lay ahead of us, I never feared one more brutal than this, and I reflected now that it had no single happy memory for me.

yes, thank you. Could NOT remember the name.

I don't think we've had this yet, and the author, who acknowledged her admiration of Austen, (C) Bronte, Heyer, and Sayers in this book would fit right in on the thread.

The big groundcar jerked to a stop centimeters from the vehicle ahead of it, and Armsman Pym, driving, swore under his breath.

Oh, very good! That's the one. The book you mention is Traitor's Purse, I think.

I guess:

Miss Pym Disposes

Allingham and Sayers both started out with slightly Bertie Wooster type poshos who they developed into more rounded characters. Campion has the advantage of 'living' through a longer period, I love the one where the dastardly plan to bring the nation to its knees is basically quantitative easing. Love Magersfontein Lugg.

I think I first came across it as a Radio 4 play in the 1980s. It led me to read her entire output. It's a controversial opinion, but Albert Campion is worth a hundred Lord Peter Wimseys. (Having said that, I agree with those above who said how good Murder Must Advertise is - probably my favourite Wimsey book. Exasperating as he is, I do enjoy the books.)

Anyway, here's another one. I'd have liked to quote more because this might not be enough, but the next sentence woud have given it away. Let's see how you all get on with just this.

A bell clanged. Brazen, insistent, maddening. Through the quiet corridors came the din of it, making hideous the peace of the morning. From each of the yawning windows of the little quadrangle the noise poured out on to the still, sunlit garden where the grass was grey yet with dew.

I didn't recognise the opening, but I love Tiger in the Smoke, amazingly atmospheric book, excellent characters.