Background
Bonnie MacDougal was born on October 8, 1953, in Pennsylvania, the United States to Robert and Rosemae (Richards) MacDougal.
Bonnie MacDougal
Bonnie MacDougal received her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude with Honors in English literature in 1975.
Bonnie MacDougal received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.
Bonnie MacDougal received her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude with Honors in English literature in 1975.
Bonnie MacDougal received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.
(Savvy South Philly lawyer Dan Casella and his assistant, ...)
Savvy South Philly lawyer Dan Casella and his assistant, Jennifer Lodge, let their passion for each other explode - until betrayal, fraud, and murder place them on opposite sides of the courtroom.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMIA08G/?tag=2022091-20
1996
(After winning a major case in L.A., high-powered Philadel...)
After winning a major case in L.A., high-powered Philadelphia lawyer Dana Svensson is returning home, eager for a long-overdue family vacation. Barely off the interstate, her client, Vic Sullivan, president of Pensteel, calls her from his company's helicopter to rehash the highlights of the trial. Suddenly, their conversation breaks up and, in the distance, Dana sees a mid-air explosion. Dana Svensson has suddenly become the "woman who knows too much". Plunged into a series of breath-stopping events that put her entire family in danger, Dana must use all her skill to find out what's going on before it's too late. Delivering deft plot twists and an in-depth knowledge of legal chicaneries, Angle of Impact is a legal thriller that is more than a little different from all the rest.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CMOOTI/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(A successful career. A charismatic new husband. A bright,...)
A successful career. A charismatic new husband. A bright, limitless future. Philadelphia lawyer Campbell Smith seems to have it all. But in Bonnie MacDougal's powerful new novel of suspense, beneath the thin surface of tranquility and realized dreams, dark events threaten to throw Cam Smith's neatly arranged life profoundly--and perilously--Out of Order. On the night of a lavish party celebrating newlyweds Doug Alexander and Campbell Smith, tragedy strikes when the thirteen-year-old son of an influential senator is kidnapped. The senator--Doug's mentor--urges Cam to track the boy down. It is an offer she cannot refuse, despite her own unsettling suspicion that the statesman seems less concerned about his child than about keeping the scandal out of the headlines. But as Cam soon discovers, everyone has something to hide. With a circle of wealth and ambition closing in tightly around her, Cam penetrates layer upon layer of lies and invention. For the abduction is not what it seems. After using all her investigative skills to find the missing boy, she begins to uncover the shocking story that links him to his captor. Surprised at her deepening attachment to them both, struggling between her duty and what is best for the child, Cam starts to question her loyalties, her marriage, her priorities, even the man she though she loved.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0075FDMXK/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Two young lovers stand accused of the murder of the girl'...)
Two young lovers stand accused of the murder of the girl's parents, and all of Philadelphia teems with speculation: Are they both innocent, or both guilty, or is one lying to protect the other? A story of the boundless power of obsessive love, Common Pleas is intricately constructed and lyrically written, with dazzling characters and breathtaking plot twists. Philadelphia lawyer and author Bonnie MacDougal again displays an impressive knowledge of forensic evidence and a true insider's savvy about the workings of the law. In Common Pleas, she delivers another provocative thriller that seamlessly blends the mystery of the crime with the darker secrets of the human heart.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401076106/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(In the bestselling tradition of Jodi Picoult and Celeste ...)
In the bestselling tradition of Jodi Picoult and Celeste Ng, a tightly wound and suspenseful novel about a blended family in crisis after a drunk driving accident leaves the daughter of one parent dead—and the son of the other parent charged with manslaughter. Divorce lawyer Leigh Huyett knows all too well that most second marriages are doomed to fail. But five years in, she and Pete Conley have a perfectly blended family of her children and his. To celebrate their anniversary, they grab some precious moments of alone time and leave Pete’s son Kip, a high school senior, in charge of Leigh’s fourteen-year-old daughter Chrissy at their home. Driving back on a rainy Friday night, their cell phones start ringing. After a raucous party celebrating his college acceptance to Duke and his upcoming birthday, Kip was arrested for drunk driving after his truck crashed into a tree. And he wasn’t alone - Chrissy was with him. Twelve hours later, Chrissy is dead and Kip is charged with manslaughter. Kip has always been a notorious troublemaker, but he’s also a star student with a dazzling future ahead of him. At first, Leigh does her best to rally behind Pete and help Kip through his ordeal. Until he changes his story and claims that he wasn’t driving after all - Chrissy was, and he swears there is a witness. Leigh is stunned that he would lie about such a thing, while Pete clutches onto the story as the last, best hope to save his son, throwing his energy and money into finding this elusive witness. As they hurtle toward Kip’s trial date, husband and wife are torn between loyalty to their children and to each other, while the mystery of what really happened that night intensifies. This richly conceived and tightly plotted exploration of family and tragedy will have you racing toward its shocking and thought-provoking conclusion.
https://www.amazon.com/House-Fire-Novel-Bonnie-Kistler-ebook/dp/B07GNWNSF8/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Bonnie MacDougal was born on October 8, 1953, in Pennsylvania, the United States to Robert and Rosemae (Richards) MacDougal.
Bonnie MacDougal received her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude with Honors in English literature in 1975, and her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.
MacDougal's law career took her to Anchorage, Alaska, and Little Rock, Arkansas (where she was one of the few lawyers ever to practice with Bill Clinton), then back to Philadelphia and the firms of Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, and Pepper Hamilton LLP, where she practices today. Her specialty was complex commercial litigation, including bankruptcy, securities fraud, and intellectual property disputes.
MacDougal's first novel, Breach of Trust, centers on Jenny Lodge, a young associate at a prestigious Philadelphia law firm. When Jenny teams up with hotshot Dan Casella, a partner at the firm, to win a complex embezzlement case, the two fall in love and begin an affair. Fearing the impropriety of this office romance, Dan forces Jenny to leave the firm. Outraged, she joins another firm and finds success, but also discovers she is carrying Dan's baby. Moreover, this is all just background for the main legal thriller plot in which Dan and Jenny find that their embezzlement case is part of a web of corruption that reaches deep into Philadelphia's old Main Line families, and Jenny holds the key to unraveling it.
Angle of Impact, MacDougal's second novel, also focuses on a brilliant young Philadelphia attorney, Dana Svenssen. When Dana witnesses a fatal collision between her client's helicopter and a small plane, she immediately snaps some photos as evidence for the inevitable lawsuit. When her home is burglarized and her estranged husband is kidnapped, Dana takes a closer look and realizes that her photos prove the helicopter was sabotaged; she understands that somebody wants to keep that fact from coming to light. While fending off the victims' attorney and trying to prove her client's innocence, Dana must also discover the identity of the shadowy figures behind her husband's kidnappers. Not every reviewer was pleased with the results of the author's premise.
For her third novel, Out of Order, Bonnie MacDougal adds a touch of political intrigue. Campbell Alexander, a beautiful lawyer with a murky past, fears that her secrets may destroy the promising political career of her new husband, Doug. When Doug is asked to run for a congressional seat by powerful Senator Ash Ramsey, Cam fears for herself and her husband. But it is actually Ramsey who seems to be threatened when his son Trey is kidnapped. Cam is hired to find the kidnapper, who turns out to be the boy's biological father, Steve, who was manipulated into giving up the boy. Cam soon finds herself caught up in Steve's problems, including a number of murders connected to Trey's missing mother, a woman of many secrets. Cam's own secrets soon come to light, leading to the sort of political skullduggery she had feared.
As an established author of legal thrillers, MacDougal was asked to collaborate on Natural Suspect, a round-robin crime novel spearheaded by William Bernhardt, another master of the courtroom drama. The story revolves around the murder of oil mogul Arthur Hightower, and each author, including such luminaries as Leslie Glass, John Katzenbach, and Philip Margolin, as well as MacDougal, contributed an unsigned chapter to the developing story.
MacDougal's fourth novel is Common Pleas, a story of young lovers on trial for the murder of the girl's wealthy parents.
In 2019, MacDougal published her latest novel, House on Fire, under the name Bonnie Kistler.
(Two young lovers stand accused of the murder of the girl'...)
2002(In the bestselling tradition of Jodi Picoult and Celeste ...)
2019(Savvy South Philly lawyer Dan Casella and his assistant, ...)
1996(After winning a major case in L.A., high-powered Philadel...)
1998(A successful career. A charismatic new husband. A bright,...)
1999Bonnie MacDougal and her husband Robert Kistler now live in Florida and the mountains of western North Carolina. They have two daughters.
