History Main / FreshClue

* During the opening sequence of a ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode, the detectives find a discarded baby carriage a few feet from a man's body. One of the detectives notes that the bottle of milk is still warm, indicating that the murder/kidnapping took place very recently.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': When the trio of Sid, Manfred and Diego arrive at the human camp, Diego remarks upon a piece of kindling: "It's still green. They broke camp less than two hours ago."

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* Subverted terrifyingly in [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7jLTXVxJdE 2935]]: One of the first clues that something is terribly, terribly wrong with the alternate dimension the Foundation's recon team are surveying is that they find several dead bodies in a farmhouse and half-eaten meals on the dining table, neither of which show any signs of decay... But a newspaper found in the living room suggests that whatever killed these people happened over a week ago. [[spoiler:It turns out that every living organism is dead, worldwide, right down to ''microbes.'' [[NothingIsScarier And they never find out why]].]]

* In the ''Series/{{Masterpiece}}'' edition of ''Franchise/LesMiserables'', Javert and his squad realize that Valjean and Cosette have only just escaped--and therefore couldn't have gotten very far--from their apartment when they see that smoke is still emanating from the candles.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E1WhereIsEverybody Where is Everybody?]]". A man finds himself all alone in a deserted town with a case of amnesia. While he's exploring a police station he finds a lit cigar smoldering in an ashtray. When he looks in a cell he finds a sink with the water running and shaving equipment (including a brush with wet shaving cream) sitting around. All of this is evidence that someone was there not too long ago. The TwistEnding is that he's actually in a [[spoiler:hallucination caused by isolation]]. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgLiuDAaAw#t=19m30s here]].

* When the trio of Sid, Manfred and Diego arrive at the human camp in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', Diego remarks upon a piece of kindling: "It's still green. They broke camp less than two hours ago."

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* A frequent puzzle in ''ComicStrip/SlylockFox'', usually of the form "How does Slylock know that the VillainOfTheWeek is still in the area?", with an accompanying picture showing a scene with multiple {{Red Herring}}s and a cup of coffee with steam coming off it, or something similar.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim berates himself for downplaying the steaming clue of the unplugged iron when he broke into a suspect's apartment and found himself in a rush to free the poor woman tied up there with burns and other torture marks on her. He didn't see the attacker and thought he'd just left, but the man was still there.

* ''Roleplay/STOForumVersusThreadRP'': Played for laughs.
--> '''locutusofcactus:''' The Undine captain looks down at the tracks in the sand. "Hmm... it appears that my competition is [[MediumAwareness a good ten pages ahead of me]]."

** In ''Five on Kirrin Island Again'', Uncle Quentin finds a fresh cigarette end, leading him to suspect that somebody else is on the island.

* In ''Literature/TheFamousFive'': In ''Five on Kirrin Island Again'', Uncle Quentin finds a fresh cigarette end, leading him to suspect that somebody else is on the island.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1602040199099768400
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/JackFrench https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4702_1.png]]]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* Inverted in an ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'' story. EC deduces that the perp had not just just pulled up after a hours-long drive (as he claims) because a baby sits on the car hood and doesn't get burned; therefore the car must have been sitting there long enough to cool down. Played straight in some other cases, as when a perp offers him apple cider that has supposedly been sitting in an unused shed for months -- the cider is still unfermented, which tells him the shed has been used recently.

* In ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'' story ''The Secret of Phantom Lake'' Jupiter Jones likewise realizes that the perp hadn't just pulled up and tried to help because his car hood is cold and the ground underneath it is dry. (They're in the middle of a downpour.) This proves that the perp had been there for quite some time digging up a BuriedTreasure.

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement, ''Terror Australis'' adventure "Old Fella that Bunyip". The Investigators may stumble upon the scene of one of the Bunyip's attacks. They find a picnic site with signs of a struggle and a tea kettle of water heating over a fire. The kettle is still whistling, which means they arrived minutes after the attack.

* In ''WebVideo/SevenSecondRiddles'', a common theme is that culprits will set food out on a table after committing a murder, only to claim the food was there for hours. They're always caught because the food is too fresh or cold for the story to be true.

* ''Anime/CaseClosed'': More often than not, clues of this type are faked by the suspect for alibis, but Conan had several close calls because Gin noticed signs that somebody was nearby and insisted on checking things out just to make sure.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/still_warm.gif]]]]

* Subverted terrifyingly in [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2935 2935]]: One of the first clues that something is terribly, terribly wrong with the alternate dimension the Foundation's recon team are surveying is that they find several dead bodies in a farmhouse and half-eaten meals on the dining table, neither of which show any signs of decay... But a newspaper found in the living room suggests that whatever killed these people happened over a week ago. [[spoiler:It turns out that every living organism is dead, worldwide, right down to ''microbes.'' [[NothingIsScarier And they never find out why]].]]

* ''Film/AskAPoliceman'': In Devil's Cave, Brown finds a still smouldering cigarette butt and the mouth of one of the tunnels; telling him which way the smuggler went.