(He, pssst, am Ende dieses wunderbares Zitats aus einem wunderbaren Buch stehen drei Anführungszeichen hintereinander. Indirekte Rede in direkter Rede in einem Zitat. Toll. Und eventuell sogar grammatikalisch korrekt.)

” ‘I make the world’s best-selling rat poison.’ (…)

‘What’s your secret?’ I asked.

‘My competitors approach rat poison the wrong way,’ he said. ‘They study rats. I study people.’ Signor Donadon pointed at my plate with his fork. ‘Rats eat what people eat.’

I glanced down at my fegato alla veneziana and suddenly saw my dinner in a new light.

‘Venetian rats would be very happy to eat what you have on your plate,’ he said, ‘because they’re used to eating that kind of food. But German rats would not be interested at all. They prefer German cuisine – wuerstel, Wiener Schnitzel. So for Germany I make a rat poison that is forty-five percent pork fat. My French rat poison has butter in it. For America I use vanilla, granola, popcorn, and a little margarine, because Americans eat very little butter. I base my New York rat poison on vegetable oils and essential oils with orange fragrance to remind the rats of hamburgers and orange juice. For Bombay I add curry. For Chile, fish meal.
‘Rats are very adaptable. If their hosts go on fad diets, the rats go on the diets, too. I maintain thirty research stations around the world so I can update the tastes and flavours of my poisons in order to make them consistent with the latest trends in human dining.’

‘What’s in your Italian rat poison?’ I asked.

‘Olive oil, pasta, honey, espresso, green-apple juice, and Nutella. Especially Nutella. I buy tons of it. Rats love it. I told the Nutella company I would be happy to endorse it on television, and they said, “Oh, God, no! We beg you. Please tell no one!” ‘ “

John Berendt, The City of Falling Angels, Sceptre 2006, Seite 99/100