Author Pam Avery is set to release her new novel, The Other Side of Tanner, worldwide on October 1. The book is a sequel to her critically acclaimed debut, The Tanner Side of Town, and shifts the focus to Tanner Fox, the daughter of Lucy Tanner and Hunter Fox. Now in her early 50s, Tanner is a successful attorney and fixer who manages crises for politicians and celebrities, but her own life is far from settled.
The novel places Tanner at the center of a dangerous investigation that begins in her hometown of Kings County, Georgia, and stretches to Chicago and Florida. As she digs into the past of small-time criminal Bill Braxton, she uncovers connections involving the Andrews family that make the case deeply personal. At the same time, Tanner is navigating a five-year affair with married U.S. Senator Cary Lancaster, a relationship that carries potentially devastating political consequences.
Avery said the contradiction at the heart of Tanner's character made her a fascinating subject. "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." The author added that while the book delivers suspense and twists, it is ultimately about family, choices, and the secrets people keep.
The release matters because it extends a multigenerational story that began with The Tanner Side of Town, which centered on Lucy Tanner and the fight to protect "The Ridge," an untouched mountain range in North Georgia. The new book examines what happens when a new generation inherits both the strength of those who came before and unfinished business from the past. Familiar characters return decades later, including Lucy Tanner, Hunter Fox, and Hank Tanner, now a Georgia district attorney, alongside new figures such as recovering surgeon David Harrington and retired Chicago police officer Leo Flynn.
Avery, a former journalist and educator who earned a master's degree in journalism in 2012 and taught media writing at Columbus State University, published her first novel in 2022. She has since released a children's and art collectors' book, What Tink Told Us, created with artist Tom Barnes, and a collection titled Dirt Road Dreams…Poems, Prose, and Photography. The Other Side of Tanner is published by Shades Creek Press, LLC.
"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." Through Tanner's journey, Avery explores themes of love, dependency, identity, and the possibility of second chances, offering readers a story that is as much about finding peace as it is about solving a mystery.
