Martin Clark speaks at the Washington County Public Library in Abingdon, Va.
The annual Sunday with Friends literary series at the Washington County Public Library, Abingdon, Virginia, continues with a talk from Martin Clark, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m.
Clark, a circuit court judge from Patrick County, Virginia, is being called the greatest contemporary writer of legal thrillers. In "The Jezebel Remedy," when a client dies in a fire, the small town lawyers, Lisa and Joe Stone, suspect the blaze was no accident. That leads them to a corporate conspiracy and some tough ethical choices. The book rose to number three on Barnes and Noble's Top 100 Books. In reviewing "The Jezebel Remedy," Entertainment Weekly said, "Clark is, hands-down, our finest legal thriller writer." Nelson DeMille says that Clark is "completely original and vastly entertaining. He knows how to write and spin a great yarn. I nominate "The Jezebel Remedy' for best-plotted and quirkiest legal thriller of the year."
The New York Times Magazine calls Clark "not only the thinking man's John Grisham but, maybe better, the drinking man's John Grisham."
Clark's first book, "The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living," was published in 2000 and was a New York Times Notable Book for 2000, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and a finalist for The Stephen Crane First Fiction Award. The screenplay for "Many Aspects" is being written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jerry Mitchell and his writing partner Mike Roden.
His second novel, "Plain Heathen Mischief," was released in 2004. It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, was chosen as a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club and, prior to release, appeared on both Amazon's and Barnes and Noble's Top 100. "Mischief" was nominated for several 2004 literary awards.
His third novel, "The Legal Limit," released in April 2008, was a Washington Post "Best Book of the Year" for 2008, and the winner of The Library of Virginia's People's Choice Award for fiction. It was selected by NPR as one of its "Summer Reads." Reviewers said "The Legal Limit" is "the new standard by which other works of legal fiction should be judged" and "the best courtroom story ever."
Clark is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
The "Sunday with Friends" literary series is sponsored by the Friends of the Washington County Public Library. All events are free and open to the public. Most include receptions, book sales and signings. For information, call 276-676-6298 or visit www.wcpl.net.
