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A press release from www.regal-literary.com let us know that: Martin Clark’s "The Legal Limit" was announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award for Fiction at The Library of Virginia’s twelfth annual literary awards celebration, held in Richmond on October 17th.  An independent panel of judges selects five finalists for this award, and the winner is then chosen by readers voting in public libraries, bookstores and online.  Past recipients include David Baldacci, Adriana Trigiani and Edward Jones.

In accepting the award, Clark stated that he was grateful to everyone who voted for him and especially grateful to his “friends and neighbors in Patrick County” for their many years of support.  He also indicated that he planned to donate a portion of his $3500.00 cash prize to the Patrick County library.
Reviewers have noted that "The Legal Limit" is “the new standard by which other works of legal fiction should be judged” and “a model of how to write a literary legal thriller.”  The New York Times Book Review called it “a novel of ample graces.”  "The Legal Limit" appeared on the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Alliance (SIBA) best-seller list for five consecutive weeks and spent thirty straight weeks on Amazon’s legal thriller best-seller list, rising as high as number two.  It was named to several “Best of 2008” lists, among them The Washington Post and Bookmarks Magazine.  Rights have been sold to CBS/Paramount for development as a miniseries.

Clark and his wife, Deana, live in Stuart, Virginia, where he has served as a circuit court judge since 1995.