Pam Avery's new novel, The Other Side of Tanner, is set for worldwide release on October 1, continuing the story of the fictional North Georgia community of Kings County. The book is a sequel to Avery's debut, The Tanner Side of Town, and moves the spotlight to Tanner Fox, the daughter of Lucy Tanner and Hunter Fox. Now in her early 50s, Tanner is a successful, high-profile attorney and fixer who helps politicians and celebrities navigate crises. However, when her complicated personal life collides with a dangerous investigation, she discovers that solving other people's problems is easier than confronting her own.
The novel's significance lies in its exploration of a new generation and the contradictions of a woman trained to manage chaos but unable to control her own. At the center of Tanner's personal turmoil is her five-year affair with married U.S. Senator Cary Lancaster. She understands the political consequences of their relationship, yet her professional instincts clash with her emotional attachment to a man whose promises have kept her waiting for years.
Beyond Washington politics, the story reaches into Kings County, where the past refuses to stay buried. Tanner becomes drawn into an investigation that spans Georgia, Chicago, and Florida, involving Bill Braxton, a small-time criminal with an outsized mobster ego. As she digs into Braxton's past, she uncovers connections to the Andrews family, making the investigation deeply personal for those closest to her. The novel blends mystery and suspense with multigenerational family relationships, featuring familiar characters decades later, including Lucy Tanner, Hunter Fox, and Hank Tanner, now a Georgia district attorney, alongside new figures like recovering surgeon David Harrington and retired Chicago police officer Leo Flynn.
Avery said she wanted to explore the family through a different generation and a very different woman. "Tanner Fox is smart, accomplished, tough and very good at managing other people's crises," Avery said. "Yet beneath all that confidence is someone struggling to manage her own life. That contradiction made her a fascinating character for me to explore." The author also emphasized that the book is about more than solving a mystery: "It's about the choices people make, the secrets they keep, the consequences that follow and the people who stand beside them when life becomes complicated. At its heart, this is still a story about family."
The Tanner family's roots stretch back to the 1800s in the mountains of Georgia, and the original novel centered on Lucy Tanner's battle to protect "The Ridge," an untouched mountain range of historical significance. The sequel examines what happens when a new generation inherits not only the strength of those who came before them but also unfinished business from the past. "The North Georgia setting is almost another character in these books," Avery said. "You can leave home, build a career and create an entirely different life for yourself, but sometimes you must come back to where you started to understand where you're going."
Ultimately, The Other Side of Tanner is as much about finding peace as it is about solving a mystery. Avery hopes readers see something of themselves in the characters. "Life rarely gives us perfect people making perfect decisions," she said. "We make mistakes, we carry things from our past, we love people we probably shouldn't, and sometimes we get another chance to decide who we want to be. That's what Tanner's journey is about." The novel is published by Shades Creek Press, LLC.
