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** El was storming towards the rural Maharashtra compound of the so-called "Speaker of Mumbai" to confront the ancient {{Seer}} that proclaimed she [[ApocalypseMaiden was destined to shatter Enclaves and cause great slaughter]] when she found a maw-mouth pawing at the warded gates, wondered briefly why a great precognitive would send the Enclave at Dubai into a tizzy over an attack that had even happened rather than warn her [[TheClan family]] to evacuate, then realized that Deepthi Sharma ''did'' see the maw-mouth coming... and saw the coming of her prodigal great-great-granddaughter... and saw what would happen to the Dubai Enclave [[LoadBearingBoss when the paths of the two crossed]][[note]](Or perhaps when El [[HorrifyingTheHorror managed to corner that thing]])[[/note]]... which would be much like what happened the '''[[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom other times]]''' El put those mad things down and [[FromACertainPointOfView granted those they had consumed]] the [[MercyKill release of death]].
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** El was storming towards the rural Maharashtra compound of the so-called "Speaker of Mumbai" to confront the ancient {{Seer}} that proclaimed she [[ApocalypseMaiden was destined to shatter Enclaves and cause great slaughter]] when she found a maw-mouth pawing at the warded gates, wondered briefly why a great precognitive would send the Enclave at Dubai into a tizzy over an attack that had not even happened rather than warn her [[TheClan family]] to evacuate, then realized that Deepthi Sharma ''did'' see the maw-mouth coming... and saw the coming of her prodigal great-great-granddaughter... and saw what would happen to the Dubai Enclave [[LoadBearingBoss when the paths of the two crossed]][[note]](Or perhaps when El [[HorrifyingTheHorror managed to corner that thing]])[[/note]]...it]])[[/note]]... which would be much like what happened the '''[[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom other times]]''' El put those mad things down and [[FromACertainPointOfView granted those they had consumed]] the [[MercyKill release of death]].
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" Nick LoVarco is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony wasn't present for the whole game like he claimed and therefore is the probable culprit.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" Nick LoVarco [=LoVarco=] is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony wasn't present for the whole game like he claimed and therefore is the probable culprit.
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* [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] gets two [[AwfulTruth umpleasant ones]] within as many chapters (about 72 hours, 96 on the outside) of ''[[Literature/TheScholomance The Golden Enclaves]]'':
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* [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] gets two [[AwfulTruth umpleasant highly unpleasant ones]] within as many chapters (about 72 hours, 96 on the outside) of ''[[Literature/TheScholomance The Golden Enclaves]]'':
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* [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] gets two [[AwfulTruth umpleasant ones]] within as many chapters (about 72 hours, 96 on the outside) of ''[[Literature/The Scholomance The Golden Enclaves]]'':
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* [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] gets two [[AwfulTruth umpleasant ones]] within as many chapters (about 72 hours, 96 on the outside) of ''[[Literature/The Scholomance ''[[Literature/TheScholomance The Golden Enclaves]]'':
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-->"A [[TheDreaded maw-mouth]]. You're [[EmpireWithADarkSecret making a maw-mouth]]."
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* [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] gets two [[AwfulTruth umpleasant ones]] within as many chapters (about 72 hours, 96 on the outside) of ''[[Literature/The Scholomance The Golden Enclaves]]'':
** When El was confronting the wizards who were in the midst of sacrificing her friend Liu to shore up the collapsing Beijing Enclave she was brought up short by the realization that the elaborate ritual involving slowly crushing somebody under bricks made of more mana than anything inscribed with spells for ''longevity, eternal life, deathlessness, etc.'' was for something rather worse than merely ''[[FateWorseThanDeath killing]]'' the victim.
-->"A [[TheDreaded maw-mouth]]. You're [[EmpireWithADarkSecret making a maw-mouth]]."
** El was storming towards the rural Maharashtra compound of the so-called "Speaker of Mumbai" to confront the ancient {{Seer}} that proclaimed she [[ApocalypseMaiden was destined to shatter Enclaves and cause great slaughter]] when she found a maw-mouth pawing at the warded gates, wondered briefly why a great precognitive would send the Enclave at Dubai into a tizzy over an attack that had even happened rather than warn her [[TheClan family]] to evacuate, then realized that Deepthi Sharma ''did'' see the maw-mouth coming... and saw the coming of her prodigal great-great-granddaughter... and saw what would happen to the Dubai Enclave [[LoadBearingBoss when the paths of the two crossed]][[note]](Or perhaps when El [[HorrifyingTheHorror managed to corner that thing]])[[/note]]... which would be much like what happened the '''[[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom other times]]''' El put those mad things down and [[FromACertainPointOfView granted those they had consumed]] the [[MercyKill release of death]].
** When El was confronting the wizards who were in the midst of sacrificing her friend Liu to shore up the collapsing Beijing Enclave she was brought up short by the realization that the elaborate ritual involving slowly crushing somebody under bricks made of more mana than anything inscribed with spells for ''longevity, eternal life, deathlessness, etc.'' was for something rather worse than merely ''[[FateWorseThanDeath killing]]'' the victim.
-->"A [[TheDreaded maw-mouth]]. You're [[EmpireWithADarkSecret making a maw-mouth]]."
** El was storming towards the rural Maharashtra compound of the so-called "Speaker of Mumbai" to confront the ancient {{Seer}} that proclaimed she [[ApocalypseMaiden was destined to shatter Enclaves and cause great slaughter]] when she found a maw-mouth pawing at the warded gates, wondered briefly why a great precognitive would send the Enclave at Dubai into a tizzy over an attack that had even happened rather than warn her [[TheClan family]] to evacuate, then realized that Deepthi Sharma ''did'' see the maw-mouth coming... and saw the coming of her prodigal great-great-granddaughter... and saw what would happen to the Dubai Enclave [[LoadBearingBoss when the paths of the two crossed]][[note]](Or perhaps when El [[HorrifyingTheHorror managed to corner that thing]])[[/note]]... which would be much like what happened the '''[[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom other times]]''' El put those mad things down and [[FromACertainPointOfView granted those they had consumed]] the [[MercyKill release of death]].
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** A villainous and horrifying version happens in ''Skin Game'', when Harry specifically starts to needle [[spoiler: Nicodemus]] about the latter's plan to willingly sacrifice [[spoiler: his daughter]] to reach the treasure they were after, hoping to make him angry enough to make a mistake. It works, until [[spoiler: Nicodemus]], despite his fury, recognizes that only a [[spoiler: father]] would know how make those particular barbs sting so badly, and he rushes off to kill [[spoiler: Harry's daughter, who he didn't previously know about,]] out of vengeance.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" the neighborhood butcher is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony was lying and also is the probable culprit.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" the neighborhood butcher Nick LoVarco is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony was lying wasn't present for the whole game like he claimed and also therefore is the probable culprit.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" the neighborhood butcher is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony was lying and also is the likely culprit.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" the neighborhood butcher is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony was lying and also is the likely probable culprit.
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** Subverted in ''Literature/ReaperMan''; Inventor Ned Simnel is trying to think up a way for his combination harvester to move without a horse when [[SteamPunk a blast of steam goes off.]] Ned just gets annoyed on how he's always getting interrupted when trying to think. According to ''The Discworld Companion'', this has happened over a 150 times.
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** Subverted in ''Literature/ReaperMan''; Inventor Ned Simnel is trying to think up a way for his combination harvester to move without a horse when [[SteamPunk a blast of steam goes off.]] Ned just gets annoyed on how he's always getting interrupted when trying to think. According to ''The Discworld Companion'', this has happened over a 150 times.
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* In Alice Scanlan Reach's "Father Crumlish's Long Hot Summer" the neighborhood butcher is stabbed with Angel Flores' switchblade, which he claims fell out of his pocket while playing stickball. When one of the spectators, Tony Scalaro, is asked whether he saw anybody pick it up, he states that all he saw was that Angel's team lost. While watching a sportscaster interview Willie Mays on TV, Father Crumlish realizes that the look of pride in Mays' eyes when he comments on helping the Giants win is the same look that was in Angel's eyes when he mentioned scoring two goals during the stickball game. This means that Tony was lying and also is the likely culprit.
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* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy:''
** One day, two thousand years after one human being had been nailed to a tree for saying how wonderful it would be if everyone was nice to each other, a young woman sitting in a café in Rickmansworth comes to the realisation where it had all been going wrong, and how the world could finally be made a bright and happy place... and then the Earth is demolished to make way for an interspace bypass, and the thought is lost forever.
** The invention of the Infinite Improbability Drive came about from one. Beforehand, respectable physicists had been trying to invent such a drive, only to meet with failure. Then, one night after a particularly unsuccessful party one younger scientist who was moping up came to the conclusion that if it was a finite impossibility it would be possible to determine just how improbable it was, and hooked up a thinking engine to a particularly strong pot of tea to do just that, which did indeed summon the Infinite Improbability Drive in existence, earning the young physicist a prize for extreme cleverness and a violent lynching from a mob of angry physicists.
** One day, two thousand years after one human being had been nailed to a tree for saying how wonderful it would be if everyone was nice to each other, a young woman sitting in a café in Rickmansworth comes to the realisation where it had all been going wrong, and how the world could finally be made a bright and happy place... and then the Earth is demolished to make way for an interspace bypass, and the thought is lost forever.
** The invention of the Infinite Improbability Drive came about from one. Beforehand, respectable physicists had been trying to invent such a drive, only to meet with failure. Then, one night after a particularly unsuccessful party one younger scientist who was moping up came to the conclusion that if it was a finite impossibility it would be possible to determine just how improbable it was, and hooked up a thinking engine to a particularly strong pot of tea to do just that, which did indeed summon the Infinite Improbability Drive in existence, earning the young physicist a prize for extreme cleverness and a violent lynching from a mob of angry physicists.
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* In Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Emil of Lönneberga'' books, there is a part where a man buys an unshod horse. All attempts to shoe it fail due to the horse kicking, and one man remarks that the buyer was cheated -- at home, they tried to shoe it twenty times. Angry, the trader says anyone can have the horse for free, but when Emil takes him up on the offer, says he'll need to get him shod first. However, the horse's reaction reminded Emil (a five years old) of his family's servant, and he realized that [[spoiler:[[AccidentalTickleTorture the horse was merely ''ticklish'']]. So, he manages by holding the horse's hoofs, which have no nerves by definition]]. The trader tries to back out of the deal, but the crowd forces him to keep his word.
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* In Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Emil of Lönneberga'' ''Literature/EmilOfLonneberga'' books, there is a part where a man buys an unshod horse. All attempts to shoe it fail due to the horse kicking, and one man remarks that the buyer was cheated -- at home, they tried to shoe it twenty times. Angry, the trader says anyone can have the horse for free, but when Emil takes him up on the offer, says he'll need to get him shod first. However, the horse's reaction reminded Emil (a five years old) of his family's servant, and he realized that [[spoiler:[[AccidentalTickleTorture the horse was merely ''ticklish'']]. So, he manages by holding the horse's hoofs, which have no nerves by definition]]. The trader tries to back out of the deal, but the crowd forces him to keep his word.
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* In ''Literature/Vigilauntie Justice'', Baz has one about the identity of the Goldsmiths Groper when Daisy describes the SignatureScent of her attacker, which matches only one of the possible suspects.
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* In ''Literature/Vigilauntie Justice'', ''Literature/VigilauntieJustice'', Baz has one about the identity of the Goldsmiths Groper when Daisy describes the SignatureScent of her attacker, which matches only one of the possible suspects.
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Crosswick from Vigilauntie Justice
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* In ''Literature/Vigilauntie Justice'', Baz has one about the identity of the Goldsmiths Groper when Daisy describes the SignatureScent of her attacker, which matches only one of the possible suspects.
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----
* Miranda has one at the end of ''Literature/WhenYouReachMe''.
--> I am jumping up and down because at the very moment Dick Clark said the word "Go," it was like an invisible hand reached out and snatched away my veil. And for almost a minute, I understood everything. When that veil isn't hanging down right in front of a person's face, a minute is long enough to realize a lot of things.
* Creator/AgathaChristie loved doing this in the Literature/HerculePoirot novels. Very frequently, he fits the pieces together after inspiration from a chance remark by one of the other characters; to Poirot's credit, he never fails to explain precisely how it helped him break the case.
* In ''Literature/ThePaleHorse'' by Creator/AgathaChristie two people have Eureka moments in short succession. Several people have died, supposedly by magic. Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver suddenly realizes that all the deaths have one thing in common: all the victims were losing their hair when they died. She knows this is a vital clue but she has no medical training, so she doesn't know what it means. She calls Mark Easterbrook, a doctor who has been investigating the deaths, to tell him what she has realized, and he has his own Eureka moment, realizing that all the deaths were due to Thallium poisoning.
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': Every book features Koko the Siamese doing something odd which eventually leads to Qwilleran having a Eureka Moment. How plausible Koko's behavior is, either taken at face value or with the strong hint he's ''trying'' to give clues, varies considerably.
* In book two of the ''Literature/HIVESeries'', Laura has one of these in the form of DreamingTheTruth.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams'': While Literature/BernieRhodenbarr is talking with a friend, she mentions the ''Cat Who...'' series, when his cat suddenly launches into strange behavior and Bernie solves the crime. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that he'd already solved the crime, but didn't care about revealing the result. When the cat acted, as if on cue, he decided to play along.]]
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Sansa supplies her father with one [[spoiler: when she says that Joffrey (who she has a mad crush on, [[TheCaligula the poor girl]]) is nothing like his father, [[BoisterousBruiser Robert]]. This finally makes Eddard realize that ''none'' of Cersei's children take after Robert -- though all of Robert's bastards do -- and the kids are most likely the product of incest between Cersei and her brother, Jaime]].
** Tyrion gets one two books later, when the readers have all pretty much forgotten about the never-quite-solved mystery of [[spoiler: who sent the assassin with the dagger to try to kill Bran]] from the first book, when he hears Joffrey bragging about how he's very familiar with expensive things like Valyrian steel. Because the chapter is told from Sansa's point of view, the readers only find out what's on his mind when he gets her alone for long enough to ask [[spoiler: "Hey, do you know if Joffrey had any reason not to like your brother?]]
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', this is how Shadow figures out where a [[spoiler:small-town serial killer has been hiding his victims' bodies,]] acting on a comment from a god who knew what was going on, and was trying to clue him onto it.
* In "The Honour of Israel Gow," Literature/FatherBrown has an explanation that he thinks covers almost all of the strange evidence they've found -- snuff without snuff boxes, candles without candlesticks, holy images with the halo around the baby Jesus removed -- but not the fact that the title character decapitated a dead man and stole the head. It's not until his friend Flambeau mentions going to the dentist that Father Brown manages to tie that in with the rest of the evidence. [[spoiler: He realizes that the dead man must have had a gold tooth. All of the missing things are those that are made of gold. Israel Gow was promised "all the gold in the castle," and taking it literally, Gow took everything that was gold (the snuff boxes, the candlesticks, etc.) while leaving behind everything that wasn't.]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** Dr Asimov wrote an essay about how this sort of thought process works called "the Eureka effect". It's even made it into a few high school literature books. %%Put first because we don't have a page for it.
** Elijah Baley constantly tries to "solve" his cases by fixating on a new piece of evidence, until something happens that makes him revise his understanding of the evidence he already has.
*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': In the first novel, Lije Baley figures out the murder mystery when his partner casually brings up [[spoiler:Enderby's glasses. All pieces of the puzzle then come together: Lije realizes that Enderby (who was earlier established to be psychologically incapable of killing a human) accidentally murdered a person, instead of destroying their robotic lookalike, because he couldn't see clearly when his glasses shattered]]. Then Daneel has a different one when he begins to grasp the distinction between 'legal' and 'ethical', which humanizes him in Baley's eyes.
*** ''Literature/TheNakedSun'': In the second novel, Baley asks Daneel to [[spoiler:"give him a hand"]]. The robot responds by [[spoiler:looking at his hand as if he was supposed to actually give it to him, leading Elijah to realize that the murder weapon was a robot's detachable arm]].
*** ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'': The third and final book in the series even barely gets away with justifying it. Baley has a eureka moment three times just before falling asleep. Each time he forgets what it was he discovered by the time he is fully awake again. Fastolfe at one point suggests using a potentially dangerous mind probe device to try to help Baley remember what it was he realized, but Baley does not take him up on the offer. [[spoiler:Giskard eventually admits that he used his telepathic powers to prevent Baley from remembering what he had discovered each time in order to protect the secret of Giskard's telepathic abilities.]]
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries''' "Literature/TheMule": Bayta has been thinking about the fact that she felt desperate both during the Time Vault event and in Neotrantor. When recently [[{{Brainwashed}} converted]] Han Pritcher reveals to them that the Mule was the one that caused the desperation in the Time Vault, she makes the connection that [[spoiler:Magnifico, the half-idiot jester she has been friends with, is actually [[BigBad the Mule]]]].
** "Literature/TheLastTrump": Etheriel realizes that the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] is scheduled to take place in 1957, but it doesn't specify Anno Domini; [[ReasoningWithGod arguing with God]] that the Act should be postponed until ''everyone'' on Earth agrees that the current year is 1957.
** Powell and Donovan: %%In publication order
*** "{{Literature/Reason}}": Powell's moment of realization comes while inspecting the report from [[InSeriesNickname Cutie]]'s shift during the electron storm. The robot was able to maintain focus far more precisely than any human could, which means his RobotReligion is useful for training each of the successive QT models on how to operate the remote space stations.
*** "Literature/{{Runaround}}": Powell and Donovan are quite proud of themselves for thinking of using the mining laboratory to create oxalic acid to chase Speedy away from the danger. Up until [[spoiler:they realize, too late, that it only shifts the problem a few meters in one direction or another without solving the LogicBomb]].
*** "Literature/CatchThatRabbit": Powell's moment of clarity occurs just in time for them to shoot one of the subsidiary robots, getting Dave to work again. Using the analogy of subsidiary=finger, Powell realized that the dancing and marching was due to Dave "twiddling his fingers" while he worked out what needed to be done.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/JanetAsimov's ''Literature/NorbysOtherSecret'': In chapter six, while Norby and Fargo are racking their brains to figure out how to open the hassock, Jeff suggests they take a break by singing a few songs. Fargo calls him a genius and starts laughing, leaving Norby to explain that Fargo now thinks the numbers they'd deciphered stand for musical notes.
%%* ''Literature/ChasingVermeer'': An extremely complicated version of this trope is pretty much the premise.
* Creator/TimothyZahn likes this trope. Or, more accurately, this trope fits his style. Many of Zahn's original works are FirstPersonSmartass, and the settings are similar to Hitchcock-style suspense/intrigue mysteries, so there's guaranteed to be one when the protagonist finally puts the pieces together. (Though the reader, unless he figures it out too--which is sometimes possible and sometimes not--won't know until TheSummation.) Some examples:
** ''Literature/TheIcarusHunt'' has at least two: One when a comment makes the protagonist realize another person's murder was connected with something completely different than he'd been assuming; another when a different comment triggers a flashback. TheSummation indicates he may have had another couple more along the way that the audience wasn't even privy to.
** The ''Literature/QuadrailSeries'' tends to have one per book, minimum; most notably, the moment in ''Night Train to Rigel'' when Compton figures out how the FTL trains work.
** This even shows up in his ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' work, though those get more promptly revealed to the reader: in ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'', a random comment by Luke triggers a flashback for Mara, in which she recognizes a major inconsistency in some of their companions' back story.
** And finally, one for Leia in ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy The Last Command]]''. Talon Karrde mentions how he was a ''Chimaera'' prisoner, and for Leia, "suddenly, all the pieces had fallen into place...and the picture they formed was one of potential disaster."
* Aside from the few times they recognize the answer instantly, the characters in ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' seem to rely solely on this trope to solve all the various puzzles and sub-puzzles. For the last puzzle before the book's climax, we don't actually get to see the main character work out the answer.
** We don't get to see it, but we do get the lead in. The answer to the last puzzle is a word: [[spoiler:apple]], and the last thing Langdon happens to look at before his off-screen Eureka Moment is [[spoiler:an apple tree]].
* Literature/NeroWolfe does this quite a bit. He's got all the pieces, but can't make them fit together, Archie (or one of the suspects) says something that causes him to look at one particular thing in a different way, and everything falls into place. He will often admit to Archie when it was something that he said or did; if it was someone else, he saves the information for the [[SummationGathering Parlor Scene]]. Both Archie and the reader know one has just occurred when Nero starts doing his "lip exercises".
* Subverted, while lampshading the subversion, in Mil Millington's "Love And Other Near-Death Experiences", in which the central character has a startling realization that he recognizes would qualify as a Eureka Moment -- except that nobody did or said anything to trigger it, it just happened without prompting.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', a sarcastic comment by Harry ("Fifty-seventh time lucky?") about his inability to get a crucial memory of Voldemort from Slughorn inspires Ron to suggest Harry use his luck potion, which proves effective. A similar scene occurs in [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the movie]], only (in keeping with the screenwriter's general inclinations) reversed: Ron's comment inspires Harry.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', we're treated to Harry's entire train of thought as a broken talking stone gargoyle triggers his memories and he realizes exactly where the last Horcrux is hidden.
* In ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', near the climax of the third novel, [[MagicalNativeAmerican Binabik the troll]] has a classic Eureka Moment during his party's escape from the [[TheFairFolk Norns]] beneath Asu'a, as a result of an offhand comment from the dwarrows who are aiding them. Unconventionally, this leads not to the solution to the plot but the [[OhCrap horrifying realization]] that the heroes have been doing the BigBad's bidding the entire time.
* In the grand tradition of mystery novels, happens frequently in Creator/NgaioMarsh's Inspector Alleyn series. An interesting departure is that the Eureka moment for Alleyn usually occurs near the middle of the book, with the reader catching up as more evidence is gathered.
* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** ''Literature/FeetOfClay'':
*** Subverted where Vimes specifically warns against this.
*** Played straight at the end, when remarks of [[TheDitz Detritus and Fred Colon]] make Vimes realize the BigBad had been rubbing the hints of his plot in Vimes' face, assuming Vimes wouldn't get them.
*** Lampshaded in that "eureka" is a Ephebian word meaning "Bring me a towel". And in fact, we learn this is a regular occurrence for Ephebian philosophers, to the point that nearby stores keep a large supply of soap, towels and bath salts.
** Subverted in ''Literature/ReaperMan''; Inventor Ned Simnel is trying to think up a way for his combination harvester to move without a horse when [[SteamPunk a blast of steam goes off.]] Ned just gets annoyed on how he's always getting interrupted when trying to think. According to ''The Discworld Companion'', this has happened over a 150 times.
** Subverted in ''Literature/MovingPictures''. CMOT Dibbler has been selling advertising space in some pictures, but is told to stop. Then he hears about a mistake someone made while editing a film, leaving in a frame which was just a picture of gold. Nobody noticed, but [[SubliminalAdvertising everyone was thinking about gold when they left the theater]]. It looks like he's about to figure out a way to sell advertising after all... [[spoiler:but he puts in ''five minutes'' of film depicting what he's trying to advertise, on the reasoning that if one frame can do that, five minutes worth must work wonders.]]
* In Creator/DorothyLSayers' ''Whose Body?'', Literature/LordPeterWimsey's moment of revelation is explicitly compared to staring at jumbled letters until they formed a word of their own inclination.
* In ''Literature/RemoteMan'', Ned comes up with his plan to bring down Laana's smuggling operation when he's browsing in a dime store. He picks up a pin cushion that he discovers has a music box inside playing a familiar tune: ''The Entertainer.'' This brings back memories of watching ''Film/TheSting'' with his father, which in turn sparks his plan, which is to invent a person, a rich businessman with his own fabricated website, to be a client of Laana.
** Earlier, Ned overhears a conversation mentioning "an anchorman in Kingston". When he later learns that Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, he realises that what he heard was "a nanka-man", nanka being a local term for the Jamaican Boa.
* "Take a chill pill" in ''Literature/MysteryTeam''.
* When Chichikov gets the idea for his scam in ''Literature/DeadSouls''.
* In ''[[Literature/TheActsOfCaine Heroes Die]]'', Toa-Sytell has one when he [[spoiler: reads the Monastic records on Caine and realises that he's an Aktir]].
* In ''Literature/AnnoDracula'', Genevieve and Charles are struggling with their investigation into Jack the Ripper's murders. Genevieve wishes aloud that Dr. Seward were with them, as he treated all the victims and could have told them what they had in common. As soon as she says this, Charles realises something; [[spoiler: They had Seward in common. ''Jack'' Seward]].
* Happens quite a bit in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. Most recently, in ''Cold Days'', Harry was talking with someone about his [[spoiler: daughter]] and how much he would give to not have her hurt from any source, which makes him pause. Seconds later, he unravels a plot that's been in play for ''eight books''.
* In ''Literature/IWantMyHatBack'', the Bear, after a long and fruitless search for his hat is asked to describe it: "It's red and pointy and... I HAVE SEEN MY HAT!"
* In Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Emil of Lönneberga'' books, there is a part where a man buys an unshod horse. All attempts to shoe it fail due to the horse kicking, and one man remarks that the buyer was cheated -- at home, they tried to shoe it twenty times. Angry, the trader says anyone can have the horse for free, but when Emil takes him up on the offer, says he'll need to get him shod first. However, the horse's reaction reminded Emil (a five years old) of his family's servant, and he realized that [[spoiler:[[AccidentalTickleTorture the horse was merely ''ticklish'']]. So, he manages by holding the horse's hoofs, which have no nerves by definition]]. The trader tries to back out of the deal, but the crowd forces him to keep his word.
* In the thriller ''The Day Before Midnight'', a group of commandos take over a missile base in Maryland but are delayed as the launch key is sealed behind a stone block that will take nearly a day to burn through. The military assumes they're dealing with some radical militia group, but Peter, the base's designer, isn't sure. It's then discovered the "terrorists" are actually [[spoiler: a batch of renegade Spetsnaz commandos]] as Peter realizes they have "figured out how to win World War III." As he explains, if they launch, the Soviet Union may lose about 30,000 people, but the Soviet attack will take out most of the U.S. When the leader of the American forces points out the obvious problem in that the American counterattack will wipe out Russia, Peter says it won't. He reminds them that when the commandos took the base, they sent out a short-burst radio message Peter now realizes was a signal to a compatriot to hold off on the action that guarantees the U.S. response is hopelessly crippled to the point they may not get anything in the air at all.
-->'''Peter''': You better kick this over to the FBI because if I'm right, he's gonna launch here and then [[spoiler: he's going to nuke D.C.]]
* Creator/ElleryQueen is prone to these. For example, in ''The Scarlet Letters'' he is watching some wet paint run in the rain when the meaning the victim's DyingClue suddenly becomes apparent to him.
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', Lord Miles Vorkosigan is prone to this; for instance in ''Literature/DiplomaticImmunity'',
--> “The crime isn't murder,” Miles whispered, his eyes widening. “The crime is ''kidnapping''.”\\
The murders had come subsequently, in an increasingly panicked cascade, ...\\
“My lord, are you all right—?”\\
Ekaterin's voice, in a fierce whisper: “No, don't interrupt him. He's thinking. He just makes those funny leaking noises when he's thinking.”
** Cordelia (then) Naismith has one in the prequel ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'' when she realized that Commodore Aral Vorkosigan could not have used interrogation drugs on her to extract information as he had claimed (she was hiding in the quarters he was confined to, and the only conscious person that knew she was there was no less surprised by what he supposedly gotten out of her than she was)... which meant that he (and only he given how badly the Barrayaran fleet was blindsided) had known of the [[AttackReflector top secret trump card]] Beta Colony had deployed in defense of their neighboring system ahead of time... which in turn forced her to conclude that the whole invasion of Escobar was a [[UriahGambit smokescreen for an internal Barrayaran assassination plot]] with Vorkosigan as the triggerman.
* ''Literature/{{TACK}}'': Often, just before "turn the page for the solution". Another character will usually make a reference to something vaguely related that will trigger a "I just figured out the answer!". It's usually Toria who triggers Will, but occasionally other characters will trigger Will or Toria into figuring things out.
* ''Literature/WetDesertTrackingDownATerroristOnTheColoradoRiver'': Grant realizes that the bomber is aiming at restoring the Colorado River delta, after figuring that the bomber's warning of a poisoning of the All-American Canal does not fit that of a terrorist trying to kill people.
* In ''The Dry'' by Jane Harper, this is how Aaron Falk cracks the case of whether a PaterFamilicide was real or a murder staged by someone else. In a casual conversation about a customer with gambling problems, TheBartender mentions that while gamblers always look for loopholes and strategies, it all comes down to backing the right horse. Back in his hotel room, Aaron realizes that all his theories so far have been built on one fatal assumption - [[spoiler: that whoever killed the family would have a grudge against the father, his old friend. It never occurred to him that his friend's *wife* might have been the real target]].
* A big theme of "Legwork" by Creator/EricFrankRussell is that the dull, dreary legwork gives us more opportunities for Eureka moments. Without all the investigation of the bizarre bank thefts, the police commissioner would not have been able to connect them with Harasha Vanash's UFO.
* Aaren has one in the second ''Literature/SkyJumpers'' book, ''Literature/ForbiddenFlats'', after [[spoiler:Alondra mentions the periodic table of elements]]. It leads him and the others to deduce that [[spoiler:iron's magnetic properties may have been transferred to ruthenium]].
* The title character of ''Literature/FrannyKStein'' does this in several of the books.
** ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid'' has Franny trying to figure out how she can stop the titular gigantic cherub. Remembering her little brother Freddy snarking about using a reverse setting on the Biggerizer so she could shrink her mouth, Franny gets the idea to use the invention to enlarge herself so that she and the giant Cupid would be on equal footing.
** In ''The Invisible Fran'', Franny gets the idea to become invisible and whisper suggestions into her friends' heads to lure them into pursuing mad science like she does after seeing her chameleon use its camouflage ability to sneak up on her dog Igor.
** In ''The Fran That Time Forgot'', Franny glances at her Time Warp Dessert Plate she invented for the science fair when everyone at school laughs at her EmbarrassingMiddleName, which inspires her to retool her invention and use it to go back in time to change her middle name.
** In ''The Frandidate'', Franny tries to think of a way she can make everyone want to vote for her for class president. She gets her idea after noticing Igor's uncanny ability to get her what the wants before she even asks, her chameleon being able to change itself when she accidentally sits on it and her parrot imitating her squeal when she sat on the aforementioned chameleon. This makes Franny realize that she can win over the student body by creating a suit that changes her appearance to match everyone's interests and enables her to say exactly what they want to hear.
* ''Literature/ToShapeADragonsBreath'': Anequs, has one regarding drawing and learning skiltakraft while at home for the whaler's return celebration, after nearly a whole term of struggling through it (with no help from her SadistTeacher Professor Ezel, who refuses to let her interact in class). [[spoiler:She realizes that the paths of dances her people have done for generations—with curved lines, rather than straight, and using various natural items such as shells and ashes for the source of the aethers—are drawing skilta, which would be visible as such from the sky when in the air on dragonback.]] She passes this information on to Theod to help him finally grasp the subject, with his promise that they both won't inform anyone at the school what they've discovered.
* ''[[Literature/FelseInvestigates A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs]]'' by Creator/EllisPeters has an interesting example, where Simon Towne has an epiphany regarding one of the mysterious deaths after George Felse repeats a comment made by his son Dominic. The interesting part is that Simon was present when Dominic made the comment in the first place, but it didn't trigger an epiphany then because he didn't have enough of the other pieces of the puzzle yet.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** In ''Tigerclaw's Fury'', Tigerclaw's reflecting on his situation while looking for moss to cover his wound, but instead finds leaf mulch. This makes him realize that his goal to become leader can be attained in more than one way too: while he might not become ''[=ThunderClan=]'''s leader, there are other options.
** In ''Shattered Sky'', [[DeadPersonConversation StarClan]] has given the cryptic advice that in order to defeat the villain, "the Clans must remember their names". Everyone's a bit baffled at what this means, but then Alderheart happens to walk past Hawkwing telling his daughters about [=SkyClan=]'s history and how they certainly live up to their name due to their attack-from-above techniques. Alderheart realizes that this means that each Clan must use their own unique battle strategies to fight Darktail.
* In "Ayla and the Birthday Brawl" in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Phase has a Eureka Moment in the middle of the final battle of the story. It nearly turns into a BrickJoke when we don't get to hear the deduction until well into the next novel, as the attack used by the Necromancer tells Phase [[spoiler: that there is a link between the Necromancer and Hekate, another of their Big Bads.]]
* ''Literature/SevenStars'': In the chapter "The Trouble With Barrymore", the first-person detective protagonist has one when Geneviève mentions that they don't even know if the key part of the prophecy (which is in French) is supposed to be translated into English, or if it's a French translation of something in a third language. [[spoiler:The key phrase is "Maison Blanche", which in English is "White House"... and in Spanish is ''[[Film/{{Casablanca}} Casa Blanca]]''.]]
-->This was what it was like. When you saw it, and nobody else did. This was what made a detective.
* ''Literature/TheLotterysMoreOrLess'': While Sumac is watching ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' at the Warming Center, at the point where the song about Liesl and Rolf being in love is playing, it immediately occurs to her that [[spoiler:Catalpa, her sister, is crushing on Luiz]].
* ''Literature/KattLovesDogg'': Oscar has one regarding [[spoiler:his cousin Romanldo's love poem to Molly's cousin Violet. The reason the lines are spaced the way they are is so that the first letter of each line can spell out the secret message "Meet Me At The Giant Stones"]].
* ''Literature/SpaceCase'': While watching the security footage of Dr. Holtz before he goes out the airlock, [[TheProtagonist Dash]] and Kira take note of Dr. Holtz's hand movements in the video. Dash thinks of them as signs, and it leads him to realize Dr. Holtz is relaying a message in sign language.
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'':
** In ''Last Writes'', Jaine has two that let her figure out [[spoiler:that Wells is the killer and how he pulled off poisoning Quinn; hearing Marco the prop man recount stories Quinn told about his days as a valet (giving Wells a '''very''' good motive to kill him) and the warm up guy doing magic tricks (remembering Wells was a magician and explaining how he could have poisoned the doughnuts without being in the prop room).]]
** Throughout ''Death by Pantyhose'', Kandi has been trying to find an actress [[ItMakesSenseInContext to go through driving school for her]]. Jaine scolding Kandi for hiring someone to do her dirty work for her leads her to realize [[spoiler:Reagan Dixon did the same thing with killing Vic]].
* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknightsTheTowerOfTime'': In chapter 1, when Max is pondering on how to find out why she and her sister Mary were separated at birth, an idea pops into her mind, sending her running to someone she figures can help: [[WizardClassic Mumblin' the Magician]].
* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': In “Cupcake Wars!”, Angela gets the idea to decorate her brown-iced cupcakes like monsters when Maisie complains that they “look like blobby monsters”.
----
* Miranda has one at the end of ''Literature/WhenYouReachMe''.
--> I am jumping up and down because at the very moment Dick Clark said the word "Go," it was like an invisible hand reached out and snatched away my veil. And for almost a minute, I understood everything. When that veil isn't hanging down right in front of a person's face, a minute is long enough to realize a lot of things.
* Creator/AgathaChristie loved doing this in the Literature/HerculePoirot novels. Very frequently, he fits the pieces together after inspiration from a chance remark by one of the other characters; to Poirot's credit, he never fails to explain precisely how it helped him break the case.
* In ''Literature/ThePaleHorse'' by Creator/AgathaChristie two people have Eureka moments in short succession. Several people have died, supposedly by magic. Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver suddenly realizes that all the deaths have one thing in common: all the victims were losing their hair when they died. She knows this is a vital clue but she has no medical training, so she doesn't know what it means. She calls Mark Easterbrook, a doctor who has been investigating the deaths, to tell him what she has realized, and he has his own Eureka moment, realizing that all the deaths were due to Thallium poisoning.
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': Every book features Koko the Siamese doing something odd which eventually leads to Qwilleran having a Eureka Moment. How plausible Koko's behavior is, either taken at face value or with the strong hint he's ''trying'' to give clues, varies considerably.
* In book two of the ''Literature/HIVESeries'', Laura has one of these in the form of DreamingTheTruth.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams'': While Literature/BernieRhodenbarr is talking with a friend, she mentions the ''Cat Who...'' series, when his cat suddenly launches into strange behavior and Bernie solves the crime. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that he'd already solved the crime, but didn't care about revealing the result. When the cat acted, as if on cue, he decided to play along.]]
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Sansa supplies her father with one [[spoiler: when she says that Joffrey (who she has a mad crush on, [[TheCaligula the poor girl]]) is nothing like his father, [[BoisterousBruiser Robert]]. This finally makes Eddard realize that ''none'' of Cersei's children take after Robert -- though all of Robert's bastards do -- and the kids are most likely the product of incest between Cersei and her brother, Jaime]].
** Tyrion gets one two books later, when the readers have all pretty much forgotten about the never-quite-solved mystery of [[spoiler: who sent the assassin with the dagger to try to kill Bran]] from the first book, when he hears Joffrey bragging about how he's very familiar with expensive things like Valyrian steel. Because the chapter is told from Sansa's point of view, the readers only find out what's on his mind when he gets her alone for long enough to ask [[spoiler: "Hey, do you know if Joffrey had any reason not to like your brother?]]
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', this is how Shadow figures out where a [[spoiler:small-town serial killer has been hiding his victims' bodies,]] acting on a comment from a god who knew what was going on, and was trying to clue him onto it.
* In "The Honour of Israel Gow," Literature/FatherBrown has an explanation that he thinks covers almost all of the strange evidence they've found -- snuff without snuff boxes, candles without candlesticks, holy images with the halo around the baby Jesus removed -- but not the fact that the title character decapitated a dead man and stole the head. It's not until his friend Flambeau mentions going to the dentist that Father Brown manages to tie that in with the rest of the evidence. [[spoiler: He realizes that the dead man must have had a gold tooth. All of the missing things are those that are made of gold. Israel Gow was promised "all the gold in the castle," and taking it literally, Gow took everything that was gold (the snuff boxes, the candlesticks, etc.) while leaving behind everything that wasn't.]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** Dr Asimov wrote an essay about how this sort of thought process works called "the Eureka effect". It's even made it into a few high school literature books. %%Put first because we don't have a page for it.
** Elijah Baley constantly tries to "solve" his cases by fixating on a new piece of evidence, until something happens that makes him revise his understanding of the evidence he already has.
*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': In the first novel, Lije Baley figures out the murder mystery when his partner casually brings up [[spoiler:Enderby's glasses. All pieces of the puzzle then come together: Lije realizes that Enderby (who was earlier established to be psychologically incapable of killing a human) accidentally murdered a person, instead of destroying their robotic lookalike, because he couldn't see clearly when his glasses shattered]]. Then Daneel has a different one when he begins to grasp the distinction between 'legal' and 'ethical', which humanizes him in Baley's eyes.
*** ''Literature/TheNakedSun'': In the second novel, Baley asks Daneel to [[spoiler:"give him a hand"]]. The robot responds by [[spoiler:looking at his hand as if he was supposed to actually give it to him, leading Elijah to realize that the murder weapon was a robot's detachable arm]].
*** ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'': The third and final book in the series even barely gets away with justifying it. Baley has a eureka moment three times just before falling asleep. Each time he forgets what it was he discovered by the time he is fully awake again. Fastolfe at one point suggests using a potentially dangerous mind probe device to try to help Baley remember what it was he realized, but Baley does not take him up on the offer. [[spoiler:Giskard eventually admits that he used his telepathic powers to prevent Baley from remembering what he had discovered each time in order to protect the secret of Giskard's telepathic abilities.]]
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries''' "Literature/TheMule": Bayta has been thinking about the fact that she felt desperate both during the Time Vault event and in Neotrantor. When recently [[{{Brainwashed}} converted]] Han Pritcher reveals to them that the Mule was the one that caused the desperation in the Time Vault, she makes the connection that [[spoiler:Magnifico, the half-idiot jester she has been friends with, is actually [[BigBad the Mule]]]].
** "Literature/TheLastTrump": Etheriel realizes that the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] is scheduled to take place in 1957, but it doesn't specify Anno Domini; [[ReasoningWithGod arguing with God]] that the Act should be postponed until ''everyone'' on Earth agrees that the current year is 1957.
** Powell and Donovan: %%In publication order
*** "{{Literature/Reason}}": Powell's moment of realization comes while inspecting the report from [[InSeriesNickname Cutie]]'s shift during the electron storm. The robot was able to maintain focus far more precisely than any human could, which means his RobotReligion is useful for training each of the successive QT models on how to operate the remote space stations.
*** "Literature/{{Runaround}}": Powell and Donovan are quite proud of themselves for thinking of using the mining laboratory to create oxalic acid to chase Speedy away from the danger. Up until [[spoiler:they realize, too late, that it only shifts the problem a few meters in one direction or another without solving the LogicBomb]].
*** "Literature/CatchThatRabbit": Powell's moment of clarity occurs just in time for them to shoot one of the subsidiary robots, getting Dave to work again. Using the analogy of subsidiary=finger, Powell realized that the dancing and marching was due to Dave "twiddling his fingers" while he worked out what needed to be done.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/JanetAsimov's ''Literature/NorbysOtherSecret'': In chapter six, while Norby and Fargo are racking their brains to figure out how to open the hassock, Jeff suggests they take a break by singing a few songs. Fargo calls him a genius and starts laughing, leaving Norby to explain that Fargo now thinks the numbers they'd deciphered stand for musical notes.
%%* ''Literature/ChasingVermeer'': An extremely complicated version of this trope is pretty much the premise.
* Creator/TimothyZahn likes this trope. Or, more accurately, this trope fits his style. Many of Zahn's original works are FirstPersonSmartass, and the settings are similar to Hitchcock-style suspense/intrigue mysteries, so there's guaranteed to be one when the protagonist finally puts the pieces together. (Though the reader, unless he figures it out too--which is sometimes possible and sometimes not--won't know until TheSummation.) Some examples:
** ''Literature/TheIcarusHunt'' has at least two: One when a comment makes the protagonist realize another person's murder was connected with something completely different than he'd been assuming; another when a different comment triggers a flashback. TheSummation indicates he may have had another couple more along the way that the audience wasn't even privy to.
** The ''Literature/QuadrailSeries'' tends to have one per book, minimum; most notably, the moment in ''Night Train to Rigel'' when Compton figures out how the FTL trains work.
** This even shows up in his ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' work, though those get more promptly revealed to the reader: in ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'', a random comment by Luke triggers a flashback for Mara, in which she recognizes a major inconsistency in some of their companions' back story.
** And finally, one for Leia in ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy The Last Command]]''. Talon Karrde mentions how he was a ''Chimaera'' prisoner, and for Leia, "suddenly, all the pieces had fallen into place...and the picture they formed was one of potential disaster."
* Aside from the few times they recognize the answer instantly, the characters in ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' seem to rely solely on this trope to solve all the various puzzles and sub-puzzles. For the last puzzle before the book's climax, we don't actually get to see the main character work out the answer.
** We don't get to see it, but we do get the lead in. The answer to the last puzzle is a word: [[spoiler:apple]], and the last thing Langdon happens to look at before his off-screen Eureka Moment is [[spoiler:an apple tree]].
* Literature/NeroWolfe does this quite a bit. He's got all the pieces, but can't make them fit together, Archie (or one of the suspects) says something that causes him to look at one particular thing in a different way, and everything falls into place. He will often admit to Archie when it was something that he said or did; if it was someone else, he saves the information for the [[SummationGathering Parlor Scene]]. Both Archie and the reader know one has just occurred when Nero starts doing his "lip exercises".
* Subverted, while lampshading the subversion, in Mil Millington's "Love And Other Near-Death Experiences", in which the central character has a startling realization that he recognizes would qualify as a Eureka Moment -- except that nobody did or said anything to trigger it, it just happened without prompting.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', a sarcastic comment by Harry ("Fifty-seventh time lucky?") about his inability to get a crucial memory of Voldemort from Slughorn inspires Ron to suggest Harry use his luck potion, which proves effective. A similar scene occurs in [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the movie]], only (in keeping with the screenwriter's general inclinations) reversed: Ron's comment inspires Harry.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', we're treated to Harry's entire train of thought as a broken talking stone gargoyle triggers his memories and he realizes exactly where the last Horcrux is hidden.
* In ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', near the climax of the third novel, [[MagicalNativeAmerican Binabik the troll]] has a classic Eureka Moment during his party's escape from the [[TheFairFolk Norns]] beneath Asu'a, as a result of an offhand comment from the dwarrows who are aiding them. Unconventionally, this leads not to the solution to the plot but the [[OhCrap horrifying realization]] that the heroes have been doing the BigBad's bidding the entire time.
* In the grand tradition of mystery novels, happens frequently in Creator/NgaioMarsh's Inspector Alleyn series. An interesting departure is that the Eureka moment for Alleyn usually occurs near the middle of the book, with the reader catching up as more evidence is gathered.
* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** ''Literature/FeetOfClay'':
*** Subverted where Vimes specifically warns against this.
*** Played straight at the end, when remarks of [[TheDitz Detritus and Fred Colon]] make Vimes realize the BigBad had been rubbing the hints of his plot in Vimes' face, assuming Vimes wouldn't get them.
*** Lampshaded in that "eureka" is a Ephebian word meaning "Bring me a towel". And in fact, we learn this is a regular occurrence for Ephebian philosophers, to the point that nearby stores keep a large supply of soap, towels and bath salts.
** Subverted in ''Literature/ReaperMan''; Inventor Ned Simnel is trying to think up a way for his combination harvester to move without a horse when [[SteamPunk a blast of steam goes off.]] Ned just gets annoyed on how he's always getting interrupted when trying to think. According to ''The Discworld Companion'', this has happened over a 150 times.
** Subverted in ''Literature/MovingPictures''. CMOT Dibbler has been selling advertising space in some pictures, but is told to stop. Then he hears about a mistake someone made while editing a film, leaving in a frame which was just a picture of gold. Nobody noticed, but [[SubliminalAdvertising everyone was thinking about gold when they left the theater]]. It looks like he's about to figure out a way to sell advertising after all... [[spoiler:but he puts in ''five minutes'' of film depicting what he's trying to advertise, on the reasoning that if one frame can do that, five minutes worth must work wonders.]]
* In Creator/DorothyLSayers' ''Whose Body?'', Literature/LordPeterWimsey's moment of revelation is explicitly compared to staring at jumbled letters until they formed a word of their own inclination.
* In ''Literature/RemoteMan'', Ned comes up with his plan to bring down Laana's smuggling operation when he's browsing in a dime store. He picks up a pin cushion that he discovers has a music box inside playing a familiar tune: ''The Entertainer.'' This brings back memories of watching ''Film/TheSting'' with his father, which in turn sparks his plan, which is to invent a person, a rich businessman with his own fabricated website, to be a client of Laana.
** Earlier, Ned overhears a conversation mentioning "an anchorman in Kingston". When he later learns that Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, he realises that what he heard was "a nanka-man", nanka being a local term for the Jamaican Boa.
* "Take a chill pill" in ''Literature/MysteryTeam''.
* When Chichikov gets the idea for his scam in ''Literature/DeadSouls''.
* In ''[[Literature/TheActsOfCaine Heroes Die]]'', Toa-Sytell has one when he [[spoiler: reads the Monastic records on Caine and realises that he's an Aktir]].
* In ''Literature/AnnoDracula'', Genevieve and Charles are struggling with their investigation into Jack the Ripper's murders. Genevieve wishes aloud that Dr. Seward were with them, as he treated all the victims and could have told them what they had in common. As soon as she says this, Charles realises something; [[spoiler: They had Seward in common. ''Jack'' Seward]].
* Happens quite a bit in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. Most recently, in ''Cold Days'', Harry was talking with someone about his [[spoiler: daughter]] and how much he would give to not have her hurt from any source, which makes him pause. Seconds later, he unravels a plot that's been in play for ''eight books''.
* In ''Literature/IWantMyHatBack'', the Bear, after a long and fruitless search for his hat is asked to describe it: "It's red and pointy and... I HAVE SEEN MY HAT!"
* In Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Emil of Lönneberga'' books, there is a part where a man buys an unshod horse. All attempts to shoe it fail due to the horse kicking, and one man remarks that the buyer was cheated -- at home, they tried to shoe it twenty times. Angry, the trader says anyone can have the horse for free, but when Emil takes him up on the offer, says he'll need to get him shod first. However, the horse's reaction reminded Emil (a five years old) of his family's servant, and he realized that [[spoiler:[[AccidentalTickleTorture the horse was merely ''ticklish'']]. So, he manages by holding the horse's hoofs, which have no nerves by definition]]. The trader tries to back out of the deal, but the crowd forces him to keep his word.
* In the thriller ''The Day Before Midnight'', a group of commandos take over a missile base in Maryland but are delayed as the launch key is sealed behind a stone block that will take nearly a day to burn through. The military assumes they're dealing with some radical militia group, but Peter, the base's designer, isn't sure. It's then discovered the "terrorists" are actually [[spoiler: a batch of renegade Spetsnaz commandos]] as Peter realizes they have "figured out how to win World War III." As he explains, if they launch, the Soviet Union may lose about 30,000 people, but the Soviet attack will take out most of the U.S. When the leader of the American forces points out the obvious problem in that the American counterattack will wipe out Russia, Peter says it won't. He reminds them that when the commandos took the base, they sent out a short-burst radio message Peter now realizes was a signal to a compatriot to hold off on the action that guarantees the U.S. response is hopelessly crippled to the point they may not get anything in the air at all.
-->'''Peter''': You better kick this over to the FBI because if I'm right, he's gonna launch here and then [[spoiler: he's going to nuke D.C.]]
* Creator/ElleryQueen is prone to these. For example, in ''The Scarlet Letters'' he is watching some wet paint run in the rain when the meaning the victim's DyingClue suddenly becomes apparent to him.
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', Lord Miles Vorkosigan is prone to this; for instance in ''Literature/DiplomaticImmunity'',
--> “The crime isn't murder,” Miles whispered, his eyes widening. “The crime is ''kidnapping''.”\\
The murders had come subsequently, in an increasingly panicked cascade, ...\\
“My lord, are you all right—?”\\
Ekaterin's voice, in a fierce whisper: “No, don't interrupt him. He's thinking. He just makes those funny leaking noises when he's thinking.”
** Cordelia (then) Naismith has one in the prequel ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'' when she realized that Commodore Aral Vorkosigan could not have used interrogation drugs on her to extract information as he had claimed (she was hiding in the quarters he was confined to, and the only conscious person that knew she was there was no less surprised by what he supposedly gotten out of her than she was)... which meant that he (and only he given how badly the Barrayaran fleet was blindsided) had known of the [[AttackReflector top secret trump card]] Beta Colony had deployed in defense of their neighboring system ahead of time... which in turn forced her to conclude that the whole invasion of Escobar was a [[UriahGambit smokescreen for an internal Barrayaran assassination plot]] with Vorkosigan as the triggerman.
* ''Literature/{{TACK}}'': Often, just before "turn the page for the solution". Another character will usually make a reference to something vaguely related that will trigger a "I just figured out the answer!". It's usually Toria who triggers Will, but occasionally other characters will trigger Will or Toria into figuring things out.
* ''Literature/WetDesertTrackingDownATerroristOnTheColoradoRiver'': Grant realizes that the bomber is aiming at restoring the Colorado River delta, after figuring that the bomber's warning of a poisoning of the All-American Canal does not fit that of a terrorist trying to kill people.
* In ''The Dry'' by Jane Harper, this is how Aaron Falk cracks the case of whether a PaterFamilicide was real or a murder staged by someone else. In a casual conversation about a customer with gambling problems, TheBartender mentions that while gamblers always look for loopholes and strategies, it all comes down to backing the right horse. Back in his hotel room, Aaron realizes that all his theories so far have been built on one fatal assumption - [[spoiler: that whoever killed the family would have a grudge against the father, his old friend. It never occurred to him that his friend's *wife* might have been the real target]].
* A big theme of "Legwork" by Creator/EricFrankRussell is that the dull, dreary legwork gives us more opportunities for Eureka moments. Without all the investigation of the bizarre bank thefts, the police commissioner would not have been able to connect them with Harasha Vanash's UFO.
* Aaren has one in the second ''Literature/SkyJumpers'' book, ''Literature/ForbiddenFlats'', after [[spoiler:Alondra mentions the periodic table of elements]]. It leads him and the others to deduce that [[spoiler:iron's magnetic properties may have been transferred to ruthenium]].
* The title character of ''Literature/FrannyKStein'' does this in several of the books.
** ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid'' has Franny trying to figure out how she can stop the titular gigantic cherub. Remembering her little brother Freddy snarking about using a reverse setting on the Biggerizer so she could shrink her mouth, Franny gets the idea to use the invention to enlarge herself so that she and the giant Cupid would be on equal footing.
** In ''The Invisible Fran'', Franny gets the idea to become invisible and whisper suggestions into her friends' heads to lure them into pursuing mad science like she does after seeing her chameleon use its camouflage ability to sneak up on her dog Igor.
** In ''The Fran That Time Forgot'', Franny glances at her Time Warp Dessert Plate she invented for the science fair when everyone at school laughs at her EmbarrassingMiddleName, which inspires her to retool her invention and use it to go back in time to change her middle name.
** In ''The Frandidate'', Franny tries to think of a way she can make everyone want to vote for her for class president. She gets her idea after noticing Igor's uncanny ability to get her what the wants before she even asks, her chameleon being able to change itself when she accidentally sits on it and her parrot imitating her squeal when she sat on the aforementioned chameleon. This makes Franny realize that she can win over the student body by creating a suit that changes her appearance to match everyone's interests and enables her to say exactly what they want to hear.
* ''Literature/ToShapeADragonsBreath'': Anequs, has one regarding drawing and learning skiltakraft while at home for the whaler's return celebration, after nearly a whole term of struggling through it (with no help from her SadistTeacher Professor Ezel, who refuses to let her interact in class). [[spoiler:She realizes that the paths of dances her people have done for generations—with curved lines, rather than straight, and using various natural items such as shells and ashes for the source of the aethers—are drawing skilta, which would be visible as such from the sky when in the air on dragonback.]] She passes this information on to Theod to help him finally grasp the subject, with his promise that they both won't inform anyone at the school what they've discovered.
* ''[[Literature/FelseInvestigates A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs]]'' by Creator/EllisPeters has an interesting example, where Simon Towne has an epiphany regarding one of the mysterious deaths after George Felse repeats a comment made by his son Dominic. The interesting part is that Simon was present when Dominic made the comment in the first place, but it didn't trigger an epiphany then because he didn't have enough of the other pieces of the puzzle yet.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** In ''Tigerclaw's Fury'', Tigerclaw's reflecting on his situation while looking for moss to cover his wound, but instead finds leaf mulch. This makes him realize that his goal to become leader can be attained in more than one way too: while he might not become ''[=ThunderClan=]'''s leader, there are other options.
** In ''Shattered Sky'', [[DeadPersonConversation StarClan]] has given the cryptic advice that in order to defeat the villain, "the Clans must remember their names". Everyone's a bit baffled at what this means, but then Alderheart happens to walk past Hawkwing telling his daughters about [=SkyClan=]'s history and how they certainly live up to their name due to their attack-from-above techniques. Alderheart realizes that this means that each Clan must use their own unique battle strategies to fight Darktail.
* In "Ayla and the Birthday Brawl" in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Phase has a Eureka Moment in the middle of the final battle of the story. It nearly turns into a BrickJoke when we don't get to hear the deduction until well into the next novel, as the attack used by the Necromancer tells Phase [[spoiler: that there is a link between the Necromancer and Hekate, another of their Big Bads.]]
* ''Literature/SevenStars'': In the chapter "The Trouble With Barrymore", the first-person detective protagonist has one when Geneviève mentions that they don't even know if the key part of the prophecy (which is in French) is supposed to be translated into English, or if it's a French translation of something in a third language. [[spoiler:The key phrase is "Maison Blanche", which in English is "White House"... and in Spanish is ''[[Film/{{Casablanca}} Casa Blanca]]''.]]
-->This was what it was like. When you saw it, and nobody else did. This was what made a detective.
* ''Literature/TheLotterysMoreOrLess'': While Sumac is watching ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' at the Warming Center, at the point where the song about Liesl and Rolf being in love is playing, it immediately occurs to her that [[spoiler:Catalpa, her sister, is crushing on Luiz]].
* ''Literature/KattLovesDogg'': Oscar has one regarding [[spoiler:his cousin Romanldo's love poem to Molly's cousin Violet. The reason the lines are spaced the way they are is so that the first letter of each line can spell out the secret message "Meet Me At The Giant Stones"]].
* ''Literature/SpaceCase'': While watching the security footage of Dr. Holtz before he goes out the airlock, [[TheProtagonist Dash]] and Kira take note of Dr. Holtz's hand movements in the video. Dash thinks of them as signs, and it leads him to realize Dr. Holtz is relaying a message in sign language.
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'':
** In ''Last Writes'', Jaine has two that let her figure out [[spoiler:that Wells is the killer and how he pulled off poisoning Quinn; hearing Marco the prop man recount stories Quinn told about his days as a valet (giving Wells a '''very''' good motive to kill him) and the warm up guy doing magic tricks (remembering Wells was a magician and explaining how he could have poisoned the doughnuts without being in the prop room).]]
** Throughout ''Death by Pantyhose'', Kandi has been trying to find an actress [[ItMakesSenseInContext to go through driving school for her]]. Jaine scolding Kandi for hiring someone to do her dirty work for her leads her to realize [[spoiler:Reagan Dixon did the same thing with killing Vic]].
* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknightsTheTowerOfTime'': In chapter 1, when Max is pondering on how to find out why she and her sister Mary were separated at birth, an idea pops into her mind, sending her running to someone she figures can help: [[WizardClassic Mumblin' the Magician]].
* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': In “Cupcake Wars!”, Angela gets the idea to decorate her brown-iced cupcakes like monsters when Maisie complains that they “look like blobby monsters”.
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