BEYOND NEWS OF THE WEIRD by...

BEYOND NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepherd, John J. Kohut and Roland Sweet (Plume: $7.95). This third anthology contains more than 500 improbable stories gleaned from the syndicated columns, “News of the Weird” and “News Quirks.” In Larskpur, Calif., two teen-age burglary suspects attempted to escape the police by scaling a chain-link fence: It proved to be the outer perimeter of San Quentin Prison. Proposed legislation to legalize prostitution in Washington state carried the proviso that licenses be issued “only upon satisfactory proof that the applicant is of good character.” A New York City medical examiner was officially reprimanded when he informed a building-management company that a tenant had died--and asked if he could put a deposit on the deceased’s rent-controlled apartment. Truth often is stranger than fiction, but some of these unlikely stories would be funnier if follow-up information were included.