The Stranger She Loved

A Mormon Doctor, His Beautiful Wife, and an Almost Perfect Murder

By: Shanna Hogan

Narrated by: Pam Ward

In 2007, Dr. Martin MacNeill - a doctor, lawyer, and Mormon bishop - discovered his wife of 30 years dead in the bathtub of their Pleasant Grove, Utah, home, her face bearing the scars of a facelift he had persuaded her to undergo just a week prior. At first the death of 50-year-old Michele MacNeill, a former beauty queen and mother of eight, appeared natural. But days after the funeral, when Dr. MacNeill moved his much younger mistress into the family home, his children grew suspicious.

Conducting their own investigation into their mother's death, the MacNeill daughters uncovered their father's multiple marital affairs, past criminal record, and falsified college transcripts he used to con his way into medical school. It would take six long years to solve the mystery of Michele's murder and secure a first-degree murder conviction against the once prominent doctor.

New York Times best-selling author Shanna Hogan delves into the high-profile case, unmasking the monster beneath the doctor's carefully concocted facade.

©2015 Shanna Hogan (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Hogan weaves a cohesive and engaging account, and her narrative chronology makes this a compelling read." ( Library Journal)

Info is stretched a little thin but pretty good.

My biggest complaint is the narrator. She's one of those narrators that obviously loves the sound of her own voice, almost chewing her words sometimes and pronouncing things strangely as if she wishes she were British. She mispronounced many very simple words, after the first few times I noticed this was happening I started paying attention more and I believe she pronounced words in a way that made the sentence sound more lyrical or floral, purposely mispronouncing words a toddler would know how to correctly pronounce. It was distracting, I felt like correcting her like she was my child.

The material itself was solid. I saw the 20/ 20 and was curious about the book bc the author was heavily featured on the show. The book included details left out of the show- the sexual assaults and the author emphasizes the fact the victim defecated in the bathtub every time she describes the crime scene. I thought that was a strange choice but hey, I'm not an author.

Sad and crazy

The story is interesting but I felt it was made longer than it truly needed to be. It felt never ending at times. Overall it was interesting and the guy was truly messed up which in turn made for a pretty messed up family. It was worth the read but just long at times.

True Crime Fans - Don't Miss This One!

This is an almost unbelievable story except it's true.
All I can say is WOW. I was hooked from the beginning.
Aside from the horrific crime it's scary to think of how he
got away with so many things. Lots of slacking from different agencies.
If even one agency investigated him a lot of what happened could have
been prevented.
This was one crazy ride.
For true crime buffs it's a good one.
I liked the narrator. I felt she did a good job.
5 stars all around.

Disturbing but good

I was hesitant to listen to this book. My ex wife suggested it when we were discussing some psychopaths currently squatting/ renting our old house. It's a page turner. Our crazy renters story that is, but I digress. This book is nearly as interesting as my personal saga. haha I think the author had a great style. I'll be checking out all her books. May she rest in peace.
The female Narrator is easily the best Female narrator in the business. She has a great accent and delivery. Check out her narration in the biography of General Stillwell . Being from Utah I'm not surprised by the strange stories generated here. The LDS church is a wonderful organization, but like many other voluntary organizations, it creates a trusting environment where wolves often enter dressed as sheep. Only after inflicting massive damage are they exposed. This doesn't diminish the wonderful members or other Utahns, but should make us alert and aware. Books like the authors might help. Hopefully the victims in this story will find peace.

This Dr. is a FOOL!

This Dr's wife was gorgeous!! But...as usual he is not content nor satisfied and needs to scratch the itch of greediness. He doesn't appreciate what he has in front of him. A beautiful wife who loved him and a skanky, uneducated, snotty mistress.
Great book. As usual he's rotting in Prison. I hear he croaked..Thank God!

All around: Great!

Engaging story, great narrator, highly recommend. It's a much deeper story than I ever imagined.

Good

Not in my list of favorites. Maybe, it's due to the factI I've heard a lot about this case. I listened to the whole thing but, found it hard to finish. The narration is good, I just got bored with the whole thing.

You’re better off watching the ABC News special

The ABC News special had everything the book covered plus you got to see what everyone looked like. The narrator was ok but not great.
Extremely sad story. Horrible man!

Good story bad reading

Story is captivating and sad. The voice of reader is annoying and irritating. Almost sounds like a computer

I just cannot understand it.

A female narrator cannot mimic a man, and completely trashes the book. Read print edition.