Author Pam Avery is returning to the fictional North Georgia community of Kings County with The Other Side of Tanner, a sequel to her acclaimed debut novel, The Tanner Side of Town. The new book is scheduled for worldwide release on October 1. The announcement signals a continued expansion of Avery's multigenerational family saga, which blends mystery and suspense with deeply personal stories about the ties that bind families across decades.
The novel shifts its 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. But when her complicated personal life collides with a dangerous investigation, she discovers that solving other people's problems is easier than confronting her own. At the center of her turmoil is a five-year affair with married U.S. Senator Cary Lancaster, a relationship whose political consequences she understands all too well. Her professional instincts clash with her emotional attachment to a man whose promises have kept her waiting for years.
The story reaches beyond Washington politics and forbidden romance. Back in Kings County, the past refuses to stay buried. Tanner becomes drawn into an investigation that stretches from Georgia to Chicago and Florida and involves Bill Braxton, a small-time criminal with an outsized mobster ego. As she digs into Braxton's past, she uncovers connections involving the Andrews family that turn the case into something deeply personal for those closest to her.
"After The Tanner Side of Town, I knew there were still stories to tell about this family, but I wanted to explore them through a different generation and a very different woman," Avery said. "Tanner Fox is smart, accomplished, tough and very good at managing other people's crises. Yet beneath all that confidence is someone struggling to manage her own life. That contradiction made her a fascinating character for me to explore."
Readers of the first novel will encounter familiar characters decades later, including Lucy Tanner, the fiercely independent heroine; Hunter Fox, the newspaperman who captured her heart; and Hank Tanner, now a Georgia district attorney. They are joined by a cast that includes recovering surgeon David Harrington, who operates a farm helping men rebuild their lives after addiction; Joseph Andrews; retired Chicago police officer Leo Flynn; and others whose histories become intertwined with Tanner's search for answers. The novel also explores the Tanner family's roots in the mountains of Georgia, where the original story centered on the battle to protect "The Ridge," an untouched mountain range of historical significance.
"The North Georgia setting is almost another character in these books," Avery said. "The land, the family history and the sense of belonging to a place help shape who the Tanners are. 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."
Through Tanner, Avery examines a distinctly contemporary contradiction: a woman professionally trained to manage chaos who cannot always control the chaos within herself. Her journey forces her to confront difficult truths about love, dependency, family, identity and what she really wants from the second half of her life. Ultimately, The Other Side of Tanner is as much about finding peace as it is about solving a mystery.
"I hope readers are entertained by the mystery and intrigue, but I also hope they see something of themselves in these characters," Avery said. "Life rarely gives us perfect people making perfect decisions. 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 release of The Other Side of Tanner matters because it extends a family saga that has already found a dedicated readership and because it tackles themes—family secrets, second chances, and the pull of home—that resonate well beyond the fictional borders of Kings County. Published by Shades Creek Press, LLC, the novel is available under ISBN 979-8-2561-0471-9 and is poised to reach readers worldwide on October 1.
