Momus suggests that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out.'"

What about the following variation, which we quote in our dictionary of magic words:

"‘Abracadabra,’ Charlene murmured to herself as she crossed against the traffic in the rain, ‘that’s an exotic word.’  Somewhere in the distance a bomb exploded softly.”
—Kate Atkinson, Not the End of the World (2003)