Irina Shapiro Books In Order

Publication Order of Echoes from the Past Books

Publication Order of Hands of Time Books

Publication Order of Nicole Rayburn Books

Publication Order of Redmond and Haze Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Tate and Bell Mystery Books

Publication Order of Wonderland Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Irina Shapiro is a cozy mystery and paranormal romance novelist from New York. Irina was born in Moscow which is where she spent much of her childhood before moving to the States as an eleven year old. Since she loved reading, she picked up English in a few months and throughout school, she was an honors student. After she graduated in 1992 from Bernard M. Baruch College with an International Business degree, she went on to work in advertising for several years before she pivoted to export and import. Before she left to take care of her autistic son in 2007, she had managed to work her way to become import manager at a large textile company. It was not until Irina spent a few months at home that she thought she should start writing. Her characters eventually started to take a life of their own and she started writing down the conversations they had in her head. She combined her love for travel and history to create detailed and rich backgrounds for her characters. Since then she has written more than thirty novels over several series. Irina currently lives with her husband and two children in New Jersey.

Shapiro was an avid reader since her childhood and was particularly taken by anything mysterious, romantic or historical and it would be better if a work has all these elements. She had always dreamed of writing a fiction novel but never had the motivation or time to try. Once she quit her job and had endless hours of peace and quiet while her children were in school, she knew it was time to give it a try. She was done with her first manuscript in a week as the torrent of ideas and words came fast and furious even though she would later find out much of what she wrote was rubbish. Many of her friends told her that her writing needed work though she had the seeds for a good narrative. With several positive reviews and a newfound confidence, she set out to rewrite her manuscript and learn all she could about publishing. It was then that she realized that being a writer was not only about writing a good story. She was forced to relearn grammar rules, promote, research and advertise her novels, find cover designers and find competent editors. Nonetheless, she persevered and her work finally bore fruit with three series to her name some of which have been on Amazon’s bestseller list.

About how she came to write her debut novel, Irina Shapiro has said that she always had an interest in reincarnation. Her interest was piqued when she read about a woman who suffered head trauma and then started having strange dreams. The woman said the memories were from a past life and Irina thought it would make for an interesting premise for a novel. As such, when she started writing the manuscript for her debut novel “The Hands of Time,” she made it about the past and present life of her lead. Few of her novels are about herself or even people she knows in real life. However, she conducts a lot of research into the historical characters that populate her works and makes them into make believe figures. Of course, given that she is a writer, many of her characters are borne of her imagination and reflect her beliefs and personality to a degree. As for the inspiration for her novels, Irina cites Diana Gabaldon and especially her time travel adventure novel “Outlander.” She has always been fascinated by the scope of imagination and the talent of the author as a storyteller. She also loves the unpredictable plot and the layered story that the author spins and tries to incorporate that into her work.

“In The Hands of Time” by Irina Shapiro, a woman finds herself back in time hundreds of years in the past. She is a modern day woman living in England during the 1600s when James I/VI ruled the country. She bumps into two handsome and charming brothers who are interested in her. She goes for one but remains very close with the other. She gets married to her new lover and it is not long before she is pregnant only for tragedy to strike. Her husband is at the center of the “Gunpowder Plot” that planned to blow up parliament and the king for what they believed was repressive policies targeted at Catholics. What follows is a tearjerker as the novel combines romance and time travel to make for a fascinating story. When the plot comes to light, Valerie and the remaining brother have to make hard choices since being related to a coup plotter has terrible consequences. They need to leave the country and they get on a ship headed for a small town in Virginia known as Jamestown. Throughout the story, her sister tries to find her missing sister and is chocked to come across an old portrait of her that dates to the 17th century. The sister makes a bold decision that has a huge risk but sets up things nicely for the following novel.

Irina Shapiro’s “A Leap of Faith” is an excellent sequel to the first in the series. It opens to Louisa, Valerie’s sister making the decision to go back in time to the 17th century to find her sister. But even with meticulous planning, the best laid plans can go wrong. She goes back and finds herself in the wrong year and on the wrong continent. She needs to cross the Atlantic form Europe and go to the Americas. Her sister is living in 1620 Virginia and she has to get to her fast. She makes the dangerous journey to the New World uncertain of what awaits her. In the meantime, Valerie has many other problems to deal with. She needs to find the truth about the men of her family so that she can solve a murder and save her marriage. Will the two sisters find the way to each other?
“A World Apart” by Irina Shapiro continues to follow the Whitfield sisters. At the beginning of the story, Mr. Taylor who is the designer of the time clock that had sent Louisa and Valerie to the 17th century also goes back in time. He has done this to give the women an opportunity to go forward to modern times if they so choose. While there, he becomes careless and his unguarded time travel device is taken by Valerie and Alec’s son Finn. He uses it and goes forward in time to 1775, a time when the United States was in full blown war. He is confused and all alone but his parents embark on a search for him once they notice that he has disappeared. Will they find him or will he remain a stranger in times so different from his. Things are going from bad to worse for the Whitfields.

One Response to “Irina Shapiro”

1. Linda Palmer: 2 years ago

   Hi Irish I just finished the shadow bride it was great as always my question is will there be book number 9 for Redmond and haze? Thank you

   Reply